The Indian aboriginal tribes constitute roughly 8 percent of the nation`s total population, according to the 1991 census. The native tribes were much less in number during the primitive times, however, with the passing decades, the Indian aboriginal tribes considerably grew in number. Some of the native tribes found concentrated in the belt along the Himalayas stretching through Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh in the west, to Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland in the northeast.

Another aboriginal tribal group lives in the hilly areas of central India and in this belt, which is surrounded by the Narmada River to the north and the Godavari River to the southeast, tribal people live along the slopes of this region. Other Indian aboriginal tribes are the Santhals, live in Bihar and West Bengal. There are some native tribes in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, in western India in Gujarat and Rajasthan, and in the union territories of Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The extent of the tribal population varies considerably from state to state. In the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland, almost 90 percent of the population is tribal. The Gondi tribe is one of the aboriginal tribes of the central India. The Gondi, or Gond people live across the states of Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra (Vidarbha), Chhattisgarh, northern Andhra Pradesh, and western Orissa. More than four million people, they make up the largest tribe in Central India.

The Kol is a generic name for the Munda, Ho, and Oraon tribes who are the aboriginal groups of India. These tribes live in the states of Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal, and spread over into parts of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The Munda tribe is an aboriginal tribe of Austro-Asiatic physical type and in 1901 they inhabited the Chota Nagpur Division, numbering to almost 438,000. The majority of the Kol people thought themselves to be Hindus with a syncretic admixture of innovative animistic beliefs; some of them also practice Christianity. The village community in its ancient structure still exists among the Mundas.

Bhils are the native tribes of Central India who speak Bhil languages, a group of Indic languages. Bhils are scheduled tribes and are found in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan in western and central India, as well as in Tripura in far-eastern India, on the border with Bangladesh. Bhils also dwell in Tharparkar district of Sindh in Pakistan. The Ghoomar dance is one of the oldest and most popular aspects of Bhil culture. In feudal and colonial times, the ruling Rajputs in various areas of work employed many Bhil tribal groups. Most of times, the Bhils worked as the hunters because of their knowledge of the topography and some had even become warriors in armies.

The Kota tribe, also called Kotas is a community of indigenous peoples who inhabit areas on the slopes of the Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu in South India. The Kotas are the experts at the occupation of traditional artisans and arts of pottery and terracotta baking in the Nilgiris and their associated community, the Todas, are the agriculturists of the Nilgiris.

The Santal Tribes are the largest tribal community in India, found mainly in the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, and Orissa. These native groups also comprise a significant Santal minority in neighboring Bangladesh.

The aboriginal tribes of India are the oldest tribal groups of the country.