Aims:  To isolate plant growth‐promoting bacterium from Western Ghat forests in India. Methods and Results:  A Gram‐negative, rod shaped, cream white coloured strain Pantoea NII‐186 isolated from Western Ghat soil sample. The taxonomic position of the bacterium was confirmed by sequencing of 16S rRNA and phylogenetic analysis. A strain grew at a wide range of temperature ranging from 5–40°C, but optimum growth was observed at 28–30°C. It showed multiple plant growth‐promoting attributes such as phosphate solubilization activity, indole acetic acid (IAA) production, siderophore production and HCN production. It was able to solubilize (28 μg of Ca3PO4 ml−1 day−1), and produce IAA (59 μg) at 28°C. The solubilization of insoluble phosphate was associates with a drop in the pH of the culture medium. Pantoea sp. NII‐186 tolerate to different environmental stresses like 5–40°C, 0–7% salt concentration and 4–12 pH range. Conclusions:  The 16S rRNA gene sequence confirmed that the isolate NII‐186 was belongs to Pantoea genus and showed considerable differences in physiological properties with previously reported species of this genus. Isolate NII‐186 possessed multiple attributes of plant growth‐promoting activity. Significance and Impact of the Study:  Hence in the context it is proposed that Pantoea sp. NII‐186, could be deployed as an inoculant to attain the desired plant growth‐promoting activity in agricultural environment.