Louis Banks (born Dambar Bahadur Budaprithi on 11 February 1941) is an Indian film composer, record producer, keyboardist, and singer. He has often been referred to as the 'Godfather of Indian jazz'.
Louis Banks was born to Indian Gorkha parents Sarswati and George Banks, a musician, in his hometown of Darjeeling. His early music education was at the hands of his father and neighbour Mrs. Myers. His father Pushkar Bahadur, a Nepalese trumpeter moved to Calcutta in the early 1940s to join a European Band in the city, subsequently he changed his name to George Banks. His grandfather, Bakhat Bahadur Budapirti, had composed the Nepalese national anthem Shreeman Gambhira Nepali which was the official anthem from 1962 to 2006.
He did his schooling at St. Roberts School, Darjeeling. Sensing Banks's interest in western music when at the age of thirteen he started playing the guitar and the trumpet, his father changed his name to Louis Banks in tribute to Louis Armstrong. This change of name gave the young Banks the confidence to make it big in the world of western music. He started receiving piano lessons from his father and also played in his band. Banks went to college at St. Joseph's College in Darjeeling, where he continued to study piano.

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