A team of six to eight surgeons will operate on the 76-year-old leader on Saturday morning, after doctors found two blockages in his arteries.
Mr Singh previously had bypass surgery in 1990 and an angioplasty in 2004.
The ruling Congress Party says Mr Singh will still lead the party in the forthcoming general election which is due by May.
Mr Singh underwent tests earlier this week after he complained of chest pains.
He will undergo "coronary artery bypass graft surgery" performed by doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India's top state-run hospital, and the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai.
Doctors say that there is "very little risk" associated with Mr Singh's surgery and that the prime minister should be fit to resume normal duties in three to four weeks.
Gandhi dynasty
But the BBC's Jill McGivering says this is not a good time for the prime minister to be removed from the political fray, given the tense relations with Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
Congress has so far dismissed concerns that Mr Singh's health would interfere with its current election campaign.
But there has been widespread speculation that party chief Sonia Gandhi has been lining up her son, Rahul Gandhi, heir to India's powerful Gandhi dynasty, as the country's next prime minister.
Mr Singh has largely been in good health since he was sworn in as prime minister in May 2004, but he recently underwent prostate surgery and has also had cataract treatment.
Mr Singh, who studied economics at Cambridge and Oxford, became India's finance minister in 1991 when the country was plunging into bankruptcy, and is widely regarded as the architect of the country's economic reform programme.
The quietly spoken economist-politician is also seen as the cleanest politician in India, a subject dear to voters' hearts.
Government officials said that Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee will take charge of cabinet meetings during the prime minister's absence.
Mr Singh previously had bypass surgery in 1990 and an angioplasty in 2004.
The ruling Congress Party says Mr Singh will still lead the party in the forthcoming general election which is due by May.
Mr Singh underwent tests earlier this week after he complained of chest pains.
He will undergo "coronary artery bypass graft surgery" performed by doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India's top state-run hospital, and the Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai.
Doctors say that there is "very little risk" associated with Mr Singh's surgery and that the prime minister should be fit to resume normal duties in three to four weeks.
Gandhi dynasty
But the BBC's Jill McGivering says this is not a good time for the prime minister to be removed from the political fray, given the tense relations with Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
Congress has so far dismissed concerns that Mr Singh's health would interfere with its current election campaign.
But there has been widespread speculation that party chief Sonia Gandhi has been lining up her son, Rahul Gandhi, heir to India's powerful Gandhi dynasty, as the country's next prime minister.
Mr Singh has largely been in good health since he was sworn in as prime minister in May 2004, but he recently underwent prostate surgery and has also had cataract treatment.
Mr Singh, who studied economics at Cambridge and Oxford, became India's finance minister in 1991 when the country was plunging into bankruptcy, and is widely regarded as the architect of the country's economic reform programme.
The quietly spoken economist-politician is also seen as the cleanest politician in India, a subject dear to voters' hearts.
Government officials said that Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee will take charge of cabinet meetings during the prime minister's absence.
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