Bombay state is a former state of India. During British rule, portions of the western coast of India under direct British rule were part of the Bombay Presidency. In 1937, the Bombay Presidency became a province of British India. After Indian independence in 1947, many former princely states, including the Gujarat states and the Deccan states , were merged with the former Bombay province. Bombay state was significantly enlarged on November 1, 1956, expanding eastward to incorporate the Marathi-speaking Marathwada region of Hyderabad state, the Marathi-speaking Vidarbha region of southern Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarati-speaking Saurashtra and Kutch. The southernmost, Kannada-speaking portion of Bombay state became part of the new linguistic state of Karnataka. Yashwantrao Chavan and later Morarji Desai were its only two Chief Ministers.

Bombay state was partitioned into Gujarat and Maharashtra states on May 1, 1960, after an agitation for a separate Marathi state turned violent. The volunteers of the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti were fired upon at Flora Fountain in the capital Mumbai (then Bombay) by the police, leading to 105 deaths. The place is now designated as Hutatma Chowk, where an eternal flame burns in their memory.