It will be the biggest football tournament staged in India, who won the nomination by beating bids from 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa and Uzbekistan.
FIFA also awarded the Under-20 World Cup in 2017 to South Korea while the women's Under-17 World Cup in 2016 was given to Jordan and the Under-20 women's World Cup will be played in South Africa.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter told reporters: "This is of enormous importance for a land of 1.2 billion people in sporting political and geo-political terms."
India have never taken part in the World Cup finals and although football matches there attract sizeable crowds, cricket is the country's national sport.
(Editing by Mark Meadows)
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