Studies on lipase production and characterization were carried out with a bacterial strain Staphylococcus arlettae JPBW-1 isolated from rock salt mine, Darang, HP, India. Higher lipase activity has been obtained using 10 % inoculum with 5 % of soybean oil as carbon source utilizing a pH 8.0 in 3 h at 35 A degrees C and 100 rpm through submerged fermentation. Partially purified S. arlettae lipase has been found to be active over a broad range of temperature (30-90 A degrees C), pH (7.0-12.0) and NaCl concentration (0-20 %). It has shown extreme stability with solvents such as benzene, xylene, n-hexane, methanol, ethanol and toluene up to 30 % (v/v). The lipase activity has been found to be inhibited by metal ions of K+, Co2+ and Fe (2+) and stimulated by Mn2+, Ca2+ and Hg2+. Lipase activity has been diminished with denaturants, but enhanced effect has been observed with surfactants, such as Tween 80, Tween 40 and chelator EDTA. The K (m) and V (max) values were found to be 7.05 mM and 2.67 mmol/min, respectively. Thus, the lipase from S. arlettae may have considerable potential for industrial application from the perspectives of its tolerance towards industrial extreme conditions of pH, temperature, salt and solvent.