Gneissic rock formations are most common formation covering around 80,000 km2 area of Chotanagpur. The laboratory study is required for physico-mechanical behaviour characterization of these gneissic rocks. In the present study, the strength and deformation behaviour of five variants of gneissic rocks, namely—(BG) Biotite Gniess, (HG) Horneblende Gneiss, (QBG) Quartz Biotite Gneiss, (GG) Granite Gniess and (QFG)—Quartzo Feldspathic Gneiss, obtained from Jharkhand and Purulia locations of Chotanagpur region were analysed. All these rocks were investigated in the laboratory, for uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and tangent modulus (E), shear strength parameters (c, ϕ) and indirect tensile strength. The slake durability, density characteristics and petrographic analysis were also studied. The failure modes of gneissic rocks have discussed for deformation behaviour under compression. Qualitatively, BG has shown low density (2650–2720 kg/m3) whereas QBG and QFG have marginally higher porosity (~ 1.0%) among all the selected variants of rocks. Quantitatively, BG has shown high variation in uniaxial compressive strengths (40–140 MPa) and indirect tensile strength (6–13 MPa) whereas HG has the least variation with high strength values. Though there is variation in UCS of investigated variants, the average UCS value of all variants falls in a range of 50–90 MPa. The mix mode of failure in BG was observed, whereas other rocks were failed in multi axial splitting. The study at best provides preliminary information for assessing the behaviour of gneissic rock mass in nearby regions.