Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up under the chairmanship of General (later Field Marshal) Sir Philip Chetwode.

The academy, spread over 1,400 acres (5.7 km2), houses the Chetwode Hall, Khetarpal Auditorium, Somnath Stadium, Salaria Aquatic Centre, Hoshiar Singh Gymnasium and other facilities that facilitate the training of cadets.

In 2017, Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz Parray was the 847th name to be engraved on the IMA War Memorial, which honours alumni of the academy who have fallen in the course of action.

Brigadier L.P. Collins was appointed the first Commandant and the first batch of 40 gentleman cadets (GC), as IMA trainees are known, began their training on 1 October 1932.

In 1934, before the first batch had passed out, Viceroy Lord Willingdon presented the first colours to the academy on behalf of King George V. The first batch of cadets to graduate the academy, graduating in December 1934, now known as the Pioneers, included Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw,[13] General Muhammad Musa and General Smith Dun, who became the Army Chiefs of India, Pakistan, and Burma, respectively.

There were Punjabi Hindus and Mussalmans [...], Sikhs, Bengalis, Marathas, Madrasis, Coorgies [...] But we worked and lived as one, namely Indians first.

(Maj Gen. A. S. Naravane (Retd) joined IMA on 29 January 1936) Through the first 16 regular courses that passed out of the academy, until May 1941, 524 officers were commissioned.

But the outbreak of the Second World War resulted in an unprecedented increase in the number of entrants, a temporary reduction in the training period to six months and an expansion of the campus.

[19] During the final years before Independence, the academy navigated the role of training officers for both colonial and postcolonial armies.

[18] In late 1947, the Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Armed Forces, following the recommendation of a 1946 committee headed by Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, decided to initiate an action plan to commission a new Joint Services training academy.

From 1963 until August 1964, the duration of regular classes was truncated, emergency courses were initiated, and new living quarters for cadets were added.

[34][35] By 1 October 2019, the 87th Raising Day, the number of GCs to have graduated from IMA stood at 61,762, including foreign alumni from 33 friendly countries.

[36] Foreign countries included Angola, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Ghana, Iraq, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestine, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tonga, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia.

[40][41] The Chetwode Hall on the drill square, built in 1930, houses the administrative headquarters of IMA and is also the hub of academic training.

[43][44] The IMA museum on the campus displays artifacts of historic importance such as the pistol of Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi of the Pakistan Army, given upon his surrender to Lt. Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora after signing the instrument of surrender to end the Bangladesh liberation war of 1971.

[46] The South Campus of IMA includes facilities such as the Somnath Stadium, with a seating capacity of 3,000, the Salaria Aquatic Centre, consisting of an Olympic sized swimming pool,[42] and the Hoshiar Singh Gymnasium.

[48] Other facilities include stables with a stud farm,[49] a small arms shooting range, and épée fencing from the modern pentathlon.

Inscribed in the oak paneling at the eastern entrance of the Chetwode Hall is the academy's credo, excerpted from the speech of Field Marshal Chetwode at the inauguration of the academy in 1932:[12][60] The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time.The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next.Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time.The freshman GCs hail from diverse backgrounds from all parts of India.

[61] The official website of the Indian Army describes the training as "a test of one's mettle and capabilities, and in psychological terms a foretaste of what the trainees would face in the battlefield".

[29] Technical graduates, ex-NDA, ex-ACC and university entry cadets undergo training at IMA for one year.

Cadets are also put in roles where they need to think like the enemy such as in Exercise Chindit where some GCs are asked to act as terrorists while others have to capture them.

[75] Games and sports include cross country, hockey, basketball, polo, athletics, football, aquatics, volleyball and boxing.

[86] IMA has adopted a song penned by Javed Akhtar for its POPs — Bharat mata teri kasam, tere rakshak rahenge hum (transl.

[96] Notable recipients of the Sword of Honour include the first Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat (in 1978) and the Olympian and union minister Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (in 1990).

[117][118] Lt. Gen. Zoravar Chand Bakshi (PVSM, MVC, VrC, VSM), an alumnus of IMA, was "India's most decorated General".

[119] Lt. Gen. Harbakhsh Singh, a 1933 batch GC of IMA, also a Japanese POW for three years, was the Western Army Commander during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

[144] In the POP on 10 December 2005, Penjor Gyeltshen, an officer from the Royal Bhutan Army, became the first foreigner since India's independence to win the Sword of Honour (presented to the best cadet).

[45] In 2015 Tanushree Podder penned a novel called On The Double: Drills, Drama, and Dare-Devilry at the Indian Military Academy, a fictional portrayal of a gentleman cadet's life.

[147] Making of a Warrior, a documentary by Dipti Bhalla and Kunal Verma, provides an inside look at IMA's culture, traditions and training regime.

[148][149] In year 2023 Indian biopic film Sam Bahadur by Vicky Kaushal also featured IMA,Dehradun.