In the past two years, global higher education sector has been deeply impacted by COVID -19 and it has been no different in India. The impacts of Covid-19 pandemic are not limited with health problems but it also has severe effects on the economy, employment, education and agriculture sectors. Since its first outbreak in India in January 2020, COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted Indian teaching -learning system and adversely affected the vulnerable learners in the hardest way. The indefinite closure of educational institutions from schools to higher educational institutions has necessitated the need for harness online/digital learning in teaching - learning. Online learning has become a new normal during COVID -19 time. When locked down was declared to contain the pandemic, online learning was the only solution to ensure incessant learning in universities, colleges and schools. The lock down and resultant closure of institutions have necessitated online learning as a powerful tool to ensure uninterrupted teaching - learning. This paper is an attempt to analyze the disruptions caused by COVID - 19 in the teaching - learning process in India and how online teaching - learning evolved as an alternative learning delivery system and its advantages and negative impacts.