The Russian-made Antonov An-32 “met with an accident today while landing at Jorhat”, a city in Assam state, the air force said, AFP reported.
The statement gave no details of casualties and did not say how many people were on board at the time.
“A court of inquiry is being constituted, to ascertain the cause of the accident,” it said.
News channel NDTV broadcast images of the crash site, showing a thick black plume of smoke and the aircraft apparently broken into pieces.
The An-32, a twin-engine turboprop, is specially designed to perform well at high altitudes and in extreme climates.
The Indian air force operates about 100 of them for military supplies and civilian aid in the country’s remotest mountain areas.
The last major crash involving the plane occurred in 2019 in Arunachal Pradesh state, near the border with China, when 13 people were killed.