📍 Geography · Location

Where India lies

India’s size, extent, coastline and standard time from NCERT — and the map facts every exam asks: which states the Tropic of Cancer and the standard meridian cross, which states border each neighbour, which touch the sea, and where India’s extreme points lie.

Area3.28 million sq km — 2.4% of the world’s land surface; seventh largest country

North–south extent3,214 km

East–west extent2,933 km

MainlandFrom Kashmir to Kanniyakumari, and from Arunachal Pradesh to Gujarat

Southern boundary6°45′N, in the Bay of Bengal

Coastline6,100 km on the mainland; 7,517 km with the island groups

Territorial sea12 nautical miles (about 21.9 km) from the coast

Standard meridian82°30′E — Indian Standard Time is 5 hours 30 minutes ahead of GMT

East–west time differenceNearly two hours, from about 30° of longitude

Island neighboursSri Lanka and Maldives, in the Indian Ocean

📘 NCERT Class 11, India: Physical Environment, Ch. 1 India — Location ↗

Maps show India’s boundaries as officially depicted by the Government of India. The state lists below are worked out from that official outline.

☀ Tropic of Cancer (23°26′N)

Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Tripura, West Bengal

8 states

🕒 Standard meridian (82°30′E)

Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh

5 states

🧭 Land borders

Pakistan: Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Rajasthan

Afghanistan: Ladakh

China: Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand

Nepal: Bihar, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal

Bhutan: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal

Bangladesh: Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, West Bengal

Myanmar: Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland

🌊 Coastal states and UTs

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Odisha, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal

13 in all

🏞 No coastline and no international border

Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana

📌 Extreme points

Northernmost point: Ladakh (about 37°3′N on our map)
Southernmost point (islands): Andaman and Nicobar Islands (about 6°45′N on our map)
Southern tip of the mainland: Tamil Nadu (about 8°5′N on our map)
Westernmost point: Gujarat (about 68°8′E on our map)
Easternmost point: Arunachal Pradesh (about 97°22′E on our map)

🎯 Practise India’s location Click the right states on the map, or answer exam-style questions in the Geography quiz. 🎯 Map quiz ✍ Take the quiz

How we check: the figures at the top are NCERT’s, and our build fails unless each is found in the chapter’s own text. The state lists are worked out from India’s official outline on our map: a state counts for a line if the line runs at least 10 km through it, and for a neighbour if they share at least 50 km of border (shorter contacts at tri-junctions are slivers of the drawing). The Tropic of Cancer is taken at 23°26′N.