Michael Chang defeated Paul Haarhuis in the final, 7–5, 6–1, 6–1 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 1996 Indian Wells Masters. Pete Sampras was the two-time defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals to Haarhuis.

Seeds

The top eight seeds received a bye to the second round. • # 🇺🇸 Pete Sampras (quarterfinals) • # 🇦🇹 Thomas Muster (second round) • # 🇺🇸 Andre Agassi (quarterfinals) • # 🇩🇪 Boris Becker (second round) • # 🇺🇸 Michael Chang (champion) • # Goran Ivanišević (semifinals) • # 🇺🇸 Jim Courier (third round) • # 🇸🇪 Thomas Enqvist (second round) • # Wayne Ferreira (quarterfinals) • # Marc Rosset (first round) • # 🇺🇦 Andriy Medvedev (first round) • # 🇫🇷 Arnaud Boetsch (third round) • # 🇪🇸 Albert Costa (third round) • # 🇺🇸 Todd Martin (third round) • # 🇺🇸 MaliVai Washington (first round) • # 🇦🇹 Gilbert Schaller (first round)

Draw

Finals

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Bottom half

Section 3

Section 4