India - Size and Location

Indian Geography Study Material

India - Size and Location

Location

• India lies entirely in the Northern hemisphere the mainland extends between latitudes 8°4'N and 37°6'N and longitudes 68°7'E and 97°25'E.


• The Tropic of Cancer (23° 30'N) divides the country into almost two equal parts.

Size of India

• The land mass of India has an area of 3.28 million square km. India’s total area accounts for about 2.4 per cent of the total geographical area of the world.


• India has a land boundary of about 15,200 km and the total length of the coast line of the mainland including Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep is 7,516.6 km.


• India is bounded by the young fold mountains in the northwest, north and north east. South of about 22° north latitude, it begins to taper, and extends towards the Indian Ocean, dividing it into two seas, the Arabian Sea on the west and the Bay of Bengal on its east.


• From Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh there is a time lag of two hours. Hence, time along the Standard Meridian of India (82°30'E) passing through Mirzapur (in Uttar Pradesh) is taken as the standard time for the whole country. The latitudinal extent influences the duration of the day and night, as one moves from south to north.