NEW DELHI, February 26, 2014 (AFP) - The 23-year-old, runner-up last year, scored nine birdies and one eagle for the lowest round of his career -- one shot shy of the course record.
Sri Lanka's Mithun Perera and Akinori Tani of Japan shot 66s, while Bangladesh's Siddikur Rahman and Australia's Scott Barr finished with 67s in the US$300,000 Asian Tour event.
"This is my best round," said Khan, in comments supplied by the organisers. "It was really important for me.
"I've been trying to shoot double digits and I've been close in the past. I've managed it now, I'm really happy."
Perera started strongly with an easy birdie on 10 and finished off his round in style, shooting two birdies and an eagle over his last three holes.
"Six under in my first event of the Asian Tour season, I'm happy," he said.
"Rashid is a good player and he's started with such a deep round. Hopefully I can give him a fight."
Leading scores after round one:
61 - Rashid Khan (IND)
66 - Mithun Perera (SRI), Akinori Tani (JPN)
67 - Scott Barr (AUS), Siddikur Rahman (BAN)
68 - S.S.P Chowrasia (IND), Chikka S (IND), Sanjay Kumar (IND), C. Muniyappa (IND), Steve Lewton (ENG), Angelo Que (PHI), Digvijay Singh (IND), Shamim Khan (IND), Kim Gi-whan (KOR), George Gandranata (INA), Abhijit Chadha (IND)