ISI R273 was discovered and collected from the Upper Maleri Formation within the Pranhita–Godavari Basin, north of Nambal village.

It was first named by Fernando E. Novas, Martin D. Ezcurra, Sankar Chatterjee and T. S. Kutty in 2011 and the type species is Nambalia roychowdhurii.

The generic name is derived from the Indian village of Nambal which is close to the type locality.

The specific name honors Dr. Roy Chowdhuri, for his research on the Triassic vertebrate faunas of India.

A cladistic analysis by Novas et al. found that Nambalia is basal to Efraasia, Plateosauravus, Ruehleia and Plateosauria, but more derived than Thecodontosaurus, Pantydraco, and Guaibasauridae.