Purpose In India – the largest democracy and second most populated country globally – the housing research domain is relatively under-researched and under-theorized. To support and advance research in this domain, this study aims to form and organize the repository of extant academic knowledge in the subject matter of housing research in India. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a scoping review methodology and a thematic analysis method. All the articles analyzed in this study were systematically searched by following the scoping review approach proposed by Arksey and O’Malley (2005). An initial search found 365 articles and finally, 108 articles that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed using the thematic analysis method. Findings The data extracted from these 108 articles were analyzed using thematic analysis to arrive at four thematic areas, namely, housing policy, slum housing, housing finance and affordable housing. These thematic areas and 11 sub-themes present under them were used to present a thematic map of housing policy research in India. Practical implications This paper contributes to presenting an up-to-date literature review of the housing policy research in India. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, this scoping review focused on housing research in India is the first of its kind. We hope that this study provides a repository of extant research on housing research in India to help current and future researchers.