1897 in India

• Empress of India – Queen Victoria
• Viceroy of India – Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin

• The Indian famine of 1896–97 comes to a close
• Scindia School is established in Gwalior
• Frontier War of 1897–98[1]
• Battle of Saragarhi
• 12 June – The 8.0 M_w  Assam earthquake shook northeastern India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 1,542.

Construction of Indian education 
 service 1897

• 23 January – Subhas Chandra Bose, one of the leaders of the Indian independence movement (dies 1945).
• 8 February – Zakir Hussain, politician and third president of India (dies 1969).
• 19 April – Peter de Noronha, businessman and civil servant (dies 1970).
• 26 April – Nitin Bose, Indian film director, cinematographer and screenwriter (dies 1986)
• 3 May – V. K. Krishna Menon, nationalist and politician (dies 1974).
• 2 November – Sohrab Modi, Indian Parsi stage and film actor, director and producer (dies 1984)
• Sahana Devi Indian singer and niece of Chittaranjan Das is born (dies 1990)

• Abdul Ghani Saheb Saudagar, trader and business person dies (born 1843)