India has a community of astronomers who work on a variety of theoretical, observational and instrumentation projects. The research produced in the country is of world standard and significant contributions to the development of astronomy have been made over the years. In recent times the observational facilities available to Indian astronomers have been augmented by installation of moderately sized optical and infrared telescopes and the state-of-the-art Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope. Experiments have been conducted from space, and a satellite for multiwave length astronomy is to be launched in a few years. While these developments have been commendable and exciting, it has been necessary to supplement observations made from Indian facilities by observations made with international facilities and space borne instruments. The facilities offered by a VO will very well complement those which so far been accessible, and will make a continuous stream of high quality data available for exciting research projects.

         The work related to a VO will require the development of highly sophisticated tools for different storage, retrieval and fordata mining . Great expertise in these matters is available for the Indian software community. The expertise developed by the Indian industry in software development and project management will be of immense benefit in development of the VO. The present proposal seeks to bring together astronomers and experts on computer science for the development of Virtual Observatory- India.

         The developments in India will be undertaken in discussion and collaboration with international groups working on VO. This will mean that the developments will have world wide impact, and India will become a founding member and partner of the international VO community. The pioneering efforts will enable other more sophisticated projects to be undertaken over the coming decade.