Rinku Singh and Ishan Khan, who were not in the group in the recent series at home South Africa, have been recalled for the global tournament.
India skipper Suryakumar Yada will lead a power-packed side, and explained that Gill's axing has to do with the finding right combinations.
"It's not about his form or anything," Suryakumar said. "It's just about the combination right now. We wanted to have a keeper at the top.
"We wanted to have someone like Rinku Singh or maybe a Washington Sundar later on, to have a different combination. So that's why we brought in that extra wicketkeeper at the top.
"And he's a terrific player. And there's no question about that. The only thing is that the situation is such that we need a keeper at the top of the order to have two-three good combinations which can win us the World Cup."
Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav are the two frontline spinners, joined by Axar and Washington Sundar as the spin allrounders.
Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana were selected as the three frontline fast bowlers.
India squad for T20 World Cup: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (vice-capt), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan (wk)
The Proteas fell short in a mammoth run-chase to lose by 30 runs in the fifth and final T20I against India in Ahmedabad as the hosts sealed a 3-1 victory in the five-match series.
The fourth T20I between India and the Proteas was abandoned without a ball being ball after the umpires deemed the excessive fog was dangerous for the players to take field in Lucknow.
In a tough afternoon for the batters, the Proteas were bowled out for 117 and suffered a seven-wicket defeat to India in the third T20I of their tour to India.
South Africa produced a ruthless all-round display to beat India by 51 runs in the second T20I of the five-match series at New Chandigarh on Thursday, taking firm control of the tour.
