A numerical investigation is performed to study the behaviour of a composite plate under low velocity impact. The finite element simulation is performed to investigate the stress distribution during the impact on the laminated composite plate. The effectiveness of the developed numerical model is investigated by comparing the results in terms the transverse-deflection and stress, longitudinal stress and impact duration with those of available literature. Various parametric studies are performed to study the effect of boundary conditions, thickness of the laminate, impactor mass and velocity and composite lay-up sequence on stress variation of the composite laminate. It is concluded that the stresses are distributed symmetrically along the bottom and top layers irrespective of the boundary conditions. Furthermore, it is shown that the maximum tensile stress is yielded at the bottom layer while the maximum compressive stress is yielded at the top layer of the laminated composite plate. Symmetric variation in in-plane shear stress distribution is also observed. It is also shown that the thickness of the composite plate plays an important role on the deflection of the plate. It is further shown that depending on the boundary conditions considered, the significant variation of shear stress is observed along the shear plane with respect to the mass and velocity of the impactor and the lay -up configuration. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.