The 1963 summer radiosonde data collected during the International Indian Ocean Expedition was used to determine the observed basic state prior to the development of an intense midtropospheric cyclone located over the west coast of India. This observed state was in turn used as the basis of a general quasigeostrophic instability analysis. There is a dominant, most unstable mode, which in its overall structure and characteristics resembles the observed midtropospheric cyclone. This, therefore, lends further support to the basic hypothesis that midtropospheric cyclones originate as a result of the baroclinic instability of the broad southwest monsoonal flow, the direction and magnitude of which vary significantly with height in the lower troposphere. The results of this study also suggest that the initial development of the cyclone might occur most prominently at a lower-midtropospheric level and that in a later stage of development the level of maximum intensity might rise to the midtropospheric level due to the moist convection and accompanying vorticity transport by the clouds.