While studies on gas turbine engines were initiated in nineteen-forties in the Department of Internal Combustion Engines, a formal research group in Propulsion emerged in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering in sixties which focused on combustion and reactive flows in the context of propulsive devices.  The group readily responded to the needs of ISRO and DRDO  whose main thrust was in the development of rocket engines and indeed, conducted fairly extensive work on hybrid rockets  as in-house activity.  The group continues to play an advisory role in many national missions dealing with aerospace propulsion.

At present there are seven faculty members and six laboratories under in the sub-discipline of Propulsion having  varied specializations and expertise both in experimental and computational studies. Some examples of current research topics are problems of flame propagation, extinction and ignition in boundary layer flows, computer simulation of reacting flows, DNS of turbulent combustion, combustion instability in rockets and gas turbine engines, atomization and spray formation from injectors used in liquid propellant rockets and gas turbine engines, space electric propulsion, MPD thrusters, biomass gasification and chemistry of propellants. The group members also offer several aerospace propulsion and combustion related courses as part department academic curriculum. The Propulsion research is bolstered by the recognition by UGC as the Centre of Advanced Studies and by the establishment of Advanced Research Centre for Combustion by DST, India.