Five Indian citizens have won the Nobel Prize: Rabindranath Tagore (1913), C. V. Raman (1930), Mother Teresa (1979), Amartya Sen (1998) and Kailash Satyarthi (2014). Several more laureates were born in India or are of Indian origin but held another citizenship when they won, including Har Gobind Khorana, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Abhijit Banerjee. Examiners often test exactly this distinction, so this page separates the two groups clearly.
Quick Answer
Indian citizens: Tagore (Literature, 1913), C. V. Raman (Physics, 1930), Mother Teresa (Peace, 1979), Amartya Sen (Economics, 1998), Kailash Satyarthi (Peace, 2014). Indian-born, other citizenship: Har Gobind Khorana (Medicine, 1968), S. Chandrasekhar (Physics, 1983), V. Ramakrishnan (Chemistry, 2009), Abhijit Banerjee (Economics, 2019). First Indian and first Asian laureate: Tagore. Only Indian citizen to win a science Nobel: C. V. Raman. Only woman: Mother Teresa. Most recent Indian citizen: Kailash Satyarthi (2014).
Nobel Laureates Who Were Indian Citizens
| Year | Laureate | Field | Recognised for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1913 | Rabindranath Tagore | Literature | Gitanjali and his "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse"; first Asian Nobel laureate |
| 1930 | C. V. Raman | Physics | The Raman effect, the scattering of light (discovered 28 February 1928, now National Science Day) |
| 1979 | Mother Teresa | Peace | Work with the poor through the Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata; Indian citizen from 1948 |
| 1998 | Amartya Sen | Economic Sciences | Welfare economics, social choice and the study of famines |
| 2014 | Kailash Satyarthi | Peace | Campaign against child labour (Bachpan Bachao Andolan); shared with Malala Yousafzai |
Laureates Born in India or of Indian Origin
| Year | Laureate | Field | Citizenship at award | Recognised for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Har Gobind Khorana | Physiology or Medicine | USA | Interpretation of the genetic code and its role in protein synthesis |
| 1983 | Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar | Physics | USA | Structure and evolution of stars; the Chandrasekhar limit |
| 2001 | V. S. Naipaul | Literature | UK (born in Trinidad, Indian origin) | Novels including A House for Mr Biswas |
| 2009 | Venkatraman Ramakrishnan | Chemistry | USA / UK | Structure and function of the ribosome |
| 2019 | Abhijit Banerjee | Economic Sciences | USA | Experimental approach to alleviating global poverty, with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer |
British-era laureates born in India
- Ronald Ross (Medicine, 1902), born in Almora, for showing that malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes; he did the work in Secunderabad.
- Rudyard Kipling (Literature, 1907), born in Bombay; the youngest Literature laureate.
Other Indian connections
- The 14th Dalai Lama (Peace, 1989) has lived in exile in Dharamshala since 1959.
- Navi Pillay, a South African jurist of Indian Tamil origin and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was among the 2026 laureates.
Facts Examiners Ask
- First Indian and first Asian: Rabindranath Tagore (1913).
- First Indian in science: C. V. Raman (1930); still the only Indian citizen to win a science Nobel.
- Only woman: Mother Teresa (1979); she was born in Skopje (now North Macedonia).
- First Indian in Economics: Amartya Sen (1998).
- Shared Peace Prize with a Pakistani: Kailash Satyarthi with Malala Yousafzai (2014).
- Tagore’s medal was stolen from Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, in 2004 and has not been recovered; the Nobel Foundation gave replicas.
- Chandrasekhar was the nephew of C. V. Raman.
- Mahatma Gandhi was nominated five times (1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and 1948) but never won.
Why So Few Indian Science Nobels?
This comes up as a GS Paper III and Essay theme. Common reasons given: low spending on research (under 1% of GDP), weak links between universities and research labs, brain drain (three of the Indian-born science laureates worked in the US or UK), limited funding for basic research compared with applied work, and few world-class research universities. Recent steps include the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (2023) and the Rs 1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation scheme to draw private investment into research.
