Malarial parasites, P. falciparum with different capabilities of invasion on sialic acid deficient erythrocytes have been identified. All three parasite lines (FDL-RI; FSJ-B5; FJB-D2) required sialic acid for invasion. However, parasite FSJ-B5 cultured in neuraminidase treated erythrocytes invaded at 20% efficiency, whereas in the cells treated with neuraminidase and trypsin together, the parasites FDL-R1 and FJB-D2 invaded at less than 10% efficiency. It is therefore suggested that different parasites isolated from different geographical regions of India possess two receptors--one that binds at sialic acid dependent ligand and other that binds in sialic acid independent ligand as demonstrated by ELISA using monoclonals against glycophorin A and glycophorin B. The sialic acid independent ligand may be having different affinities of their receptors for the malarial parasites.