The company started its operations in 1996 when Dinesh Agarwal and Brijesh Agrawal founded the website IndiaMART.com,[3] a business-to-business portal to connect Indian manufacturers with buyers.

[4][5] Founded in 1996 by two cousins Dinesh Agarwal and Brijesh Agrawal, IndiaMART began as a B2B directory and website developer for SMEs.

[7] Due to Indian rupee's appreciation between 2005 and 2007 and the impact of the 2008–09 US recession, the company decided to pivot the focus from export-oriented business to India-focused B2B market and raised funding from The Times Group and Intel Capital.

[20][21] In November 2020, IndiaMART filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Justdial before the Delhi High Court on allegations of copying website compilations for the proposed JD Mart B2B marketplace.

[22][23] Since 2018, the USTR has listed IndiaMART as a "notorious market" due to reports of counterfeit products and illegal pharmaceuticals being sold on the marketplace.