Cancer incidence and eighteen site-specific age standardised rates in India were estimated for the year 1991. With the establishment of National Cancer Registry Programme, incidence rates per 100,000 are available from six metropolitan registries and one rural registry. Using population census data for India in 1991, about 609,000 new cancer cases were estimated to have been diagnosed in the country in 1991. The estimated age standardised rates per 100,000 were 96.4 for males and 88.2 for females. The five most common cancers were lung (10.6%) pharynx (9.1%), oesophagus (6.7%), tongue (6.6%) and stomach (5.7%) among males and cervix (23.5%), breast (19.3%), ovary (5.5%) oesophagus (4.4%), and mouth (3.9%) among females. A comparison of estimated ASRs for two two largest countries in Asia (China and India) showed differences in the pattern of cancer.