A subcontinent in itself, from the high Himalayas to the Ganges plains and the tropical Deccan
India occupies most of the Indian subcontinent, between the Himalayan range to the north — home to its highest point, Kangchenjunga, on the border of Sikkim and Nepal — and the Indian Ocean to the south. The country combines vast, densely populated alluvial plains along the Ganges and the Indus, an ancient volcanic plateau (the Deccan) in the south-centre, and two long coastlines bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east. Its north-eastern border with China (Arunachal Pradesh sector) and its north-western border in the Kashmir region (Aksai Chin sector, administered by China) have been disputed since the mid-20th century.
3,287,263 km²
Area
8,586 m
Highest point · Kangchenjunga
6
Land borders
The main rivers of India. Click a river to see its length, source and mouth.
Climate
Highly varied by region: desert in the west (Thar), alpine and glacial in the Himalayas to the north, humid tropical in the south-west and the islands. The summer monsoon (June to September), carried by south-westerly winds, brings most of the annual rainfall and shapes the country's farming calendar.
Bordering countries
Administrative divisions
India is a federation of 28 states and 8 union territories, the latter administered directly (wholly or partly) by the central government rather than by a fully fledged state government. The most sensitive case is the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, disputed since 1947 between India, Pakistan and, for one portion, China, and reorganised in 2019 into two union territories. India has no territory outside the subcontinent: the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, although far from the mainland, are fully fledged union territories, counted among the 36 subdivisions below rather than as separate overseas territories.
28
States
8
Including Delhi (national capital), Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
The 36 regions of the mainland territory of India.