Fungi are omnipresent and cosmopolitan in distribution. Fungi are the second most species-rich organisms group after insects. Fungi play an important role in decomposition, industry, agriculture, medicine, biotechnology and many other related aspects of human welfare. Today around 140,000 fungal species are reported in the world, some 30,000 fungal of which are reported in India. It is a more challenging task to compile the fungal inventory as compared to other organisms such as plants. Moreover, there is no red data book on fungi in India. Keeping in view the above aspects, diversity, conservation and utilization aspects of fungi have much greater import.
The problems faced by researchers are enormous due to the non-availability of complete data. Hence, it has become important in bringing up to date the list of fungi reported from India. It has also become a necessity for fungal taxonomists. The late Prof. K. S. Bilgrami and his colleagues have undertaken a large effort to bring out the volumes of the Fungi of India, wherein they had mentioned names, collection place, date, etc. along with its related references. This book lists fungi reported from 1988-2020 with their complete data and 1051 references.