About the GenomeIndia Project

The GenomeIndia national consortium was constituted in late 2017, comprising 20 institutions, with the Centre for Brain Research (CBR) at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, serving as the coordinating centre. The GenomeIndia Project was formally launched in January 2020 with funding support from the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.

GenomeIndia is the largest, most comprehensive, and well-designed study of India's genetic diversity to date. Its sampling strategy is extensive, nuanced, and balanced across ethnic, socio-cultural, geographic, biogeographic, and linguistic dimensions of the country.

Blood samples and phenotype data were collected from over 20,000 individuals representing 83 population groups, including 30 tribal and 53 non-tribal populations. Emphasis on unrelated individuals and trios ensured accurate estimation of allele frequencies, including rare variants critical to complex disease research.

In addition to genomic data, the GenomeIndia biobank includes blood biochemistry, anthropological, and socio-economic data, enabling pharmacogenomic insights and the development of a national reference haplotype panel for genotype-phenotype association studies.

Reference:
Mapping genetic diversity with the GenomeIndia project. Nat Genet 57, 767-773 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-025-02153-x