The curriculum is regulated by the sociocultural aspects, political ideologies, values and morals of the ecosystem it is created in. When the ecosystem is a South Asian country like India, especially post-colonisation, the hyper focus on nation building led to clearly differentiated gender roles to protect the moral and cultural integrity of the state. The purpose of this review is to critically explore the existing literature to understand how gender is represented in primary school textbooks in India. The review highlights the temporal and historical evolution of gender-based curriculum reforms in India while illuminating patterns in the literature through themes such as visibility, portrayal and intersectionalities of gender. This review is restricted to the last 25 years, following the National Education Policy of 1986. Subsequent to this policy introduction, textbook analysis became more commonplace. Additionally, the review addresses the potential impact caused by such textbooks and recommendations made by various Indian researchers are also highlighted in this review.