The Induan is the first age of the Early Triassic epoch in the geologic timescale, or the lowest stage of the Lower Triassic series in chronostratigraphy. It spans the time between 251.902 Ma and 249.9 Ma (million years ago). The Induan is sometimes divided into the Griesbachian and the Dienerian subages or substages. The Induan is preceded by the Changhsingian (latest Permian) and is followed by the Olenekian.

The Induan is roughly coeval with the regional Feixianguanian Stage of China.

The Triassic is the first period of the Mesozoic era. It is subdivided into the Lower, Middle, and Upper Triassic series, which are further subdivided into stages. The Induan is the first stage of the Lower Triassic, from 251.9 million to 249.9 million years ago, spanning the first 2 million years after the Permian–Triassic extinction event.

Stages can be defined globally or regionally. For global stratigraphic correlation, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) ratifies global stages based on a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) from a single formation (a stratotype) identifying the lower boundary of the stage. The GSSP for the Induan is defined as the bottom of Bed 27c of the Meishan Section, China, 31°4′47.28″N 119°42′20.9″E / 31.0798000°N 119.705806°E / 31.0798000; 119.705806, with the appearance of the conodont Hindeodus parvus as its primary marker (biostratigraphy), and minimum zones (negative anomalies) of ¹³C and ¹⁸O (corresponding to the extinction event) as its secondary marker. Bed 27c comprises a medium-bedded section of limestone, overlain by clay and a medium-bedded section of dolomitic, argillaceous calcimicrite. Calcimicrite is a type of limestone that contains more micrite than allochem, and the diameter of any particle measures less than 20 microns.

The Induan is succeeded by the Olenekian, whose GSSP is defined at the bottom of Bed A-2 of the Mikin Formation near Mud village, Spiti, India, with the appearance of the conodont Neospathodus waageni and a ¹³C peak.

There have been several propositions for the organization of the Triassic timescale. Most of the Triassic stages and sub-stages, which are still used today, were coined in an 1895 publication by Austro-Hungarian geologist Johann August Georg Edmund Mojsisovics von Mojsvar, Austrian geologist Carl Diener, and German geologist Wilhelm Heinrich Waagen. They were defined using ammonite research conducted in large part by Mojsisovics and Diener in primarily Austria, Italy, and Bosnia; as well as Waagen's work in the Pakistani Salt Range. They divided the Triassic into four series (from lowest to highest): the Scythian, Dinaric, Tyrolean, and Bavarian. The Scythian was divided (from lowest to highest) into the Brahmanian and Jakutian stages. The Brahmanian's lower boundary was defined by the appearance of the ammonite Otoceras woodwardi in the Himalayas (Austrian paleontologist Carl Ludolf Griesbach had already proposed this ammonite demarcate the beginning of the Triassic in 1880), and its upper boundary by a section of sandstone in the Salt Range characterized by ceratite ammonites.

In 1956, Soviet paleontologists Lubov D. Kiparisova and Yurij N. Popov decided to divide the Lower Triassic series into, what they coined, the Induan and Olenekian stages. The Induan honors the Indus River, as they also bounded it using the same criteria and sites as Mojsisovics' Brahmanian in the Indus region, though they resided in Siberia at the time. That is, the Induan is synonymous with the Brahmanian.

In the 1960s, English paleontologist Edward T. Tozer (sometimes collaborating with American geologist Norman J. Silberling) crafted Triassic timescales based on North American ammonoid zones (further refining it in the following decades), based on the works of Frank McLearn in British Columbia and Siemon Muller in Nevada who pieced together the ammonoid fossil record of the North American Cordillera. Tozer's nomenclature was largely derived from Mojsisovics's work, but he redefined them using North American sites. He recommended the Lower Triassic series be divided into the: Griesbachian, Dienerian, Smithian, and Spathian. The former two roughly correspond with the Induan. Tozer's timescale became popular in the Americas. He named the Griesbachian after Griesbach Creek on Axel Heiberg Island, Canada, and further split it into the Gangetian and Ellesmarian substages; the former he defined by the ammonite zones of O. concavum and O. boreale, and the latter by Ophiceras commune and Proptychites striatus. He named the Dienerian after Diener Creek on Ellesmere Island, Canada, and defined it by the ammonite zones P. candus and Vavilovites sverdrupi.