Red Bull's Vettel led throughout for his 11th victory of the season, finishing some 8.4 seconds ahead of Button with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso third and Australian Mark Webber fourth.
Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher battled to fifth but McLaren's Lewis Hamilton came in seventh after yet another collision with his Ferrari bete noire, Felipe Massa.
"My pace was good up until the crash. After the crash, we struggled," said the 2008 champion.
But wire-to-wire Vettel was in a class of his own at the all-new Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi as he closed on Michael Schumacher's 2004 record of 13 wins in one year, with two races left this season.
"Yes boys! Yes, we did it," Vettel shouted over the team radio as he finished. "The first Indian Grand Prix. Fantastic challenge, we did it!"
In dry, 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) heat, India's debut Grand Prix got off to a furious start when Rubens Barrichello was hit on the first turn and three cars ended up off-track, before Jarno Trulli found himself on grass.
Vettel made no mistake from pole position but Button nipped past Webber and Alonso to go from fourth on the grid to second, cueing up an early dogfight with the Australian Red Bull driver.
As they duelled, Vettel opened up a lead of nearly five seconds and after the first set of stops, the young German emerged from the pit lane still at the head of the field.
The race began on a thrilling note as cars spun at the first corner itself with Lotus' Jarno Trulli skidding on to the grass just after Williams Rubens Barrichello and Suaber's K Kobayashi clashed.
In the first lap itself, Timo Glock and Barrichello were in the pit lane and Kobayashi was out of the race. While Barrichello managed to resume after the pit-stop, Glock's race ended soon after.
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