1969 in India

Incumbents

• President of India – Zakir Husain until 3 May, V. V. Giri until 20 July, Mohammad Hidayatullah until 24 August, V. V. Giri
• Prime Minister of India – Indira Gandhi
• Vice President of India – V. V. Giri until 3 May; Gopal Swarup Pathak
• Chief Justice of India – Mohammad Hidayatullah

Governors

• Andhra Pradesh – Khandubhai Kasanji Desai
• Assam – Braj Kumar Nehru
• Bihar – Nityanand Kanungo
• Gujarat – Shriman Narayan
• Haryana – Birendra Narayan Chakraborty
• Jammu and Kashmir – Bhagwan Sahay
• Karnataka – Gopal Swarup Pathak, vacant thereafter
• Kerala – V. Viswanathan
• Madhya Pradesh – K. Chengalaraya Reddy
• Maharashtra – P V Cherian, vacant thereafter
• Nagaland – B.K. Nehru
• Odisha – Shaukatullah Shah Ansari
• Punjab – Dadappa Chintappa Pavate
• Rajasthan – Sardar Hukam Singh
• Tamil Nadu – Sardar Ujjal Singh
• Uttar Pradesh – Bezawada Gopala Reddy
• West Bengal –
• * until 1 April: Dharma Vira
• * 1 April-19 September: Deep Narayan Sinha
• * starting 19 September: Shanti Swaroop Dhavan

Events

• National income - 438,360 million
• 14 January - Madras State gets renamed to Tamil Nadu through parliamentary law.
• 1 March - The first Rajdhani Express commenced its journey between Delhi and Howrah.
• 12 July – Congress Parliamentary Board at Bangalore nominated Neelam Sanjiva Reddy as Congress's candidate for the post of President of India by a vote of four to two.
• 19 July -
• * 14 major private banks nationalized
• * Morarji Desai resigned from the post of Deputy Prime Minister of India.
• 18 September: Start of the 1969 Gujarat riots.
• 12 November – Congress Working Committee headed by S. Nijalingappa removed Indira Gandhi from primary membership of Congress Party.
• Indian National Congress splits into two factions. One led by Indira Gandhi and another led by Morarji Desai.
• Rajdhani Express was introduced
• Indian Space Research Organisation was set up
• Central Industrial Security Force came into existence

Law

Births

• 24 May – Sudhir Kumar Walia, Indian Army..
• 2 April Ajay Devgan, actor and producer.
• 21 June – Padmapani Acharya, Indian Army..
• 24 August Mukesh Tiwari, actor.
• 4 November Rupini, actress.
• 7 November – Nandita Das, actress.
• 25 November Sukanya, actress and dancer.
• 11 December – Viswanathan Anand, chess grandmaster and multiple time World Chess Champion.

Full date unknown

• Soumya Bhattacharya, journalist and author.
• M. Yoganathan, environmental activist.

Deaths

• 27 January – Anukulchandra Chakravarty, social reformer and philanthropist
• 31 January – Meher Baba, mystic and spiritual master.
• 23 February – Madhubala, actress.
• 3 May – Zakir Husain, politician and third President of India.
• 13 June – Acharya Atre, Writer, Poet, Social Activist in the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement.
• 28 July – Annabhau Sathe, social reformer and writer.