BACKGROUND: Infectious bursal disease (IBD) caused substantial economic loss in central and western India during 2020 and 2021. AIMS: The study was conducted to characterize IBD virus (IBDV) from field outbreaks. METHODS: The study was conducted on 360 samples from 42 poultry flocks. The samples were subjected to histopathology and molecular detection, followed by phylogenetic typing of the partial VP2 gene. RESULTS: The mortality ranged from 15.25 to 60.18%. The necropsy showed hemorrhages on thigh muscles, mottled spleen, swelling of kidneys and bursae with hemorrhages, and cheesy exudate. Histopathology revealed extensive necrosis and depletion of follicular lymphoid cells within the cortex and medulla, along with widespread hemorrhages, edema, and cystic cavities in the bursa. The field isolates showed cytopathic effects in the seventh passage. The cytopathic effects included swelling, rounding, granulation of cytoplasm around the nucleus, fragmentation of the infected cells, and detachment. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction amplified 664 bp partial VP2 gene. The phylogenetic analysis identified 19 field isolates as very virulent IBDVs (vvIBDVs) and three as classical strains. CONCLUSION: The results indicated that different vvIBDV strains are involved in disease outbreaks in central and western India.