Major crops subject to field burning of crop residue (FBCR) generated an estimated 284 Tg of residue in India, of which 40% was contributed by wheat in the year 2000. About 7.5% of this total generated wheat straw was subjected to on-site burning, that is expected to emit large amounts of trace gases and particulate matter (PM) to the atmosphere, whose country-specific estimates and emission factors (EFs) are presently not available. An in situ experiment for wheat straw burning was undertaken for developing India specific EFs. The EFs of CO₂, CH₄, CO, N₂O, NO_x, NO and NO₂ were found to be 1787±36, 3.6±2.7, 28.1±20.1, 0.74±0.46, 1.70±1.68, 0.78±0.71 and 0.56±0.47gkg^-1, whereas those for organic carbon (OC), black carbon (BC) and total carbon (TC) were 0.3±0.1, 0.2±0.1, and 0.5±0.2gkg^-1, respectively. Although these EFs have been generated from a single field experiment nevertheless they address important information gap on FBCR in the region. Further, the total emissions of CH₄, CO₂, CO, N₂O, NO_x, NO, NO₂, OC, BC and TC from wheat straw burning in India for the year 2000 was estimated as 68±51, 34435±682, 541±387, 14±9, 33±32, 15±14, 11±9, 6±2, 3±1 and 10±4 Gg, respectively.