Geography · NCERT Class 9 (Contemporary India–I)

India: Size and Location

Where does India sit on the globe, and how big is it? Learn India’s position in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, its latitudinal and longitudinal extent, the Tropic of Cancer that cuts it almost in half, why one Standard Meridian (82°30′E) sets the clock for the whole country, and who its neighbours are. Tap each fact to explore.

🗺 3 topics⏱ ~25 min📝 12-question quiz

Play with it

India on the world map

Six facts pin India down on the globe — its hemispheres, how far it reaches in latitude and longitude, the Tropic of Cancer, the Standard Meridian and its sheer size. Tap each to reveal the figure.

Explore · Where India sitstap a fact

Learn

The three big ideas

Hemispheres — India lies entirely in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres (north of the Equator, east of the Prime Meridian).
Latitudinal extent — the mainland reaches from about 8°4′N in the south to 37°6′N in the north.
Longitudinal extent — it stretches from about 68°7′E in the west to 97°25′E in the east.
Tropic of Cancer — the 23°30′N line passes almost through the middle of the country, dividing it into nearly two equal parts.

Common mistake: don’t swap latitude and longitude. Latitude lines run east–west and measure how far north or south a place is; longitude lines run north–south and measure how far east or west a place is.

Area — India covers about 3.28 million sq km, roughly 2.4% of the world’s land area.
Rank — it is the seventh-largest country in the world by area.
Latitudinal vs longitudinal extent — both span about 30°, yet the east–west extent looks smaller than the north–south extent on the map.
Boundaries — India has a land boundary of about 15,200 km and a coastline of about 7,516.6 km (mainland plus islands).

Land neighbours — Pakistan and Afghanistan to the north-west; China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north; Myanmar and Bangladesh to the east.
Island neighbours — Sri Lanka and the Maldives lie to the south across the sea; Sri Lanka is separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait.
Standard Meridian — 82°30′E, passing through Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh), is taken as the standard time for the whole country.
IST — the local time at this meridian is Indian Standard Time, used everywhere in India.

Worked example. Why does the whole of India use one standard meridian (82°30′E)?

Step 1. India runs from about 68°7′E to 97°25′E — a longitudinal spread of roughly 30°.

Step 2. The Earth turns 15° of longitude in one hour, so 30° is about 2 hours of sun time between the east and the west.

Step 3. If each town kept its own local time, clocks would differ by up to two hours. Choosing one Standard Meridian (82°30′E) gives a single, uniform time for the whole nation.

Where you’ll meet it

Size & location, at work

Time zones & IST

Because India spans about 30° of longitude, the sun rises roughly two hours earlier in the east than in the west. Indian Standard Time, fixed by the 82°30′E meridian, keeps trains, schools and offices across the country on one clock.

Latitude & climate

How far a place lies from the Equator shapes its climate. The Tropic of Cancer (23°30′N) splits India into a warmer tropical south and a cooler sub-tropical north — so latitude helps explain why Kanyakumari feels different from Kashmir.