Being Indian means you’ll have to work harder to stand out against an extremely competitive pool.
Good grades and test scores are absolutely required. But more than that you’ll need to have a compelling story.
@sgopal2 Thanks for the suggestion. However I had another doubt, do you think being a humanities student(with Economics and Maths) unlike majority of the indian applicant will some what differentiate me from them? I understand that good heads are necessary obviously 
Grades*
FWIW: All students apply to Harvard as “Liberal Arts” majors and decide upon their concentration during their sophomore year. That’s true for potential math and econ majors, as well engineers, scientists, artists and musicians.
Admissions cannot use an applicant’s “intended major” for recruitment purposes, as more than 60% of US college students change their major during their 4 years of college. So an applicant’s “intended major” or “interests” do not translate into the degree a student will have upon graduation. As such, it doesn’t matter, distinguish or differentiate an applicant by what they write down. A student should write down what they are truly interested in and not try to “game” the system by writing down something they think will give them an upper hand because the majority of Indian applicants will write down Econ and Math. Admissions doesn’t work that way at Harvard and at other selective colleges.
Admissions asks students about their “intended major” to gauge how deep an interest an applicant has in the subject matter. For example, a student who says they’d like to major in computer science should have at least taken some high school and other CS courses and possibly have a website with examples of what they have created in different CS languages. Likewise, a student who is interested in humanities should have a demonstrated interest in the subject beyond good grades – maybe they’ve written poetry, pursed foreign language study outside of the classroom or engaged in theater and dance as extracurricular activities. It doesn’t move a student’s application forward to write down an interest that you haven’t pursued to some degree.
Each college has its list of underrepresented majors, where professors are always looking for good students with a genuine interest. Looking through the list of majors at Harvard I’d be willing to wage a bet that few students each year graduate with a major in Slavic studies or even Folklore and Mythology.
But simply listing these under-represented majors on your application won’t make it easier for you. In fact you have to have shown that you really are interested in these fields. They will be able to spot out if you are just trying to get into a less popular major.