Two subspecies are recognised[2] The Indian cuckooshrike formerly included additional subspecies (under the English name "large cuckooshrike"):[2] Adult males have a broad and well-marked eye stripe which is pale in females.

The throat and breast are grey in males and the abdomen and flanks are finely barred.

Females have the throat and breast also with barring which extends further down and lacks the prominent whitish vent of the male.

The Indian population has a loud call klu-eep and the birds have a characteristic habit of flicking their closed wings one after the other upon landing on a perch.

The nest is a shallow saucer placed in the fork of a horizontal branch at some height above the ground.