The paper describes the development of Indian Psychiatric Survey Schedule (IPSS) which is designed to inquire about the presence of 124 psychiatric symptoms and 10 items of historical information in the general population. The symptoms as well as the items of historical information are the same as those in IPIS (Kapur et al., 1974) but because of a multi-stage procedure adopted with IPSS, the inquiry takes much less time than that for IPIS. — A “preliminary interview schedule” which is meant for all members of the population can be used by a nonpsychiatrist after a short period of training. The other sections in IPSS, that is “detailed inquiry with the subject”, “detailed inquiry with an informant” and “observations during interview” are completed when necessary by a trained psychiatrist who also gives a physical examination when somatic symptoms are reported. — The paper describes the reasons why a multi-stage procedure was designed, a pilot study which helped reach certain decisions regarding the construction of the schedule and the results of a study carried out to test the level of agreement obtained when three non-psychiatrists (after a short period of training) and a psychiatrist used the preliminary interview schedule with 40 hospital patients and 40 members of the general population.