List of major rivers of India


With a land area of consisting of diverse ecosystems, India has many rivers systems and perennial streams. The rivers of India can be classified into four groups - Himalayan, Deccan, Coastal, and Inland drainage. The Himalayan rivers, mainly fed by glaciers and snow melt, arise from the Himalayas. The Deccan rivers system consists of rivers in Peninsular India, that drain into the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. There are numerous short coastal rivers, predominantly on the West coast. There are few inland rivers, which do not drain into sea.
Most of the rivers in India originate from the four major watersheds in India. The Himalayan watershed is the source of majority of the major river systems in India including the three longest rivers-the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Indus. These three river systems are fed by more than 5000 glaciers. The Aravalli range in the north-west serves the origin of few of the rivers such as the Chambal, the Banas and the Luni rivers.
The Narmada and Tapti rivers originate from the Vindhya and Satpura ranges in Central India. In the peninsular India, majority of the rivers originate from the Western Ghats and flow towards the Bay of Bengal, while only a few rivers flow from east to west from the Eastern Ghats to the Arabian sea. This is because of the difference in elevation of the Deccan plateau, which slopes gently from the west to the east. The largest of the peninsular rivers include the Godavari, the Krishna, the Mahanadi and the Kaveri.

River systems

As per the classification of Food and Agriculture Organization, the rivers systems are combined into 20 river units, which includes 14 major rivers systems and 99 smaller river basins grouped into six river units. The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin is the largest, which covers 34% of the land area and contributes to nearly 59% of the available water resources.
River unitRegionDraining intoCatchment area
Average annual runoff
Surface water
Ganges-Brahmaputra-MeghnaNorth-eastBangladesh34.0610.62 294.0
Other North-east riversNorth-eastBangladesh, Myanmar 1.1 31.0
SubarnarekhaNorth-eastBay of Bengal0.912.4
Brahmani-BaitaraniNorth-eastBay of Bengal1.6 28.56.8
MahanadiCentral-eastBay of Bengal4.4 66.918.3
East flowing rivers between Mahanadi and PennarCentral-eastBay of Bengal2.722.5 19.0
GodavariCentralBay of Bengal 9.7110.5 50
KrishnaCentralBay of Bengal8.0 78.176.3
PennarSouth-eastBay of Bengal1.7 6.3 58.0
East flowing rivers between Pennar and KanyakumariSouth-eastBay of Bengal3.116.513.1
KaveriSouthBay of Bengal 2.5 21.46.9
West flowing rivers between Tadri and Kanyakumari South-westArabian Sea1.7 113.516.7
West flowing rivers between Tapti and Tadri SouthwestArabian Sea1.787.4 24.3
TaptiCentral-westArabian Sea 2.0 14.9 11.9
NarmadaCentral-westArabian Sea 3.145.6 14.5
MahiNorth-westArabian Sea1.1 11.0 34.5
SabarmatiNorth-westArabian Sea0.7 3.8 3.1
West flowing rivers between Kutch and SaurashtraNorth-westArabian Sea10.015.1 1.9
Rajasthan inland basin North-east None Negligible Negligible 15.0
Indus tributaries North-west Pakistan 1073.346.0

List of rivers

RankRiverImageLength OriginOutflowMajor tributariesStates/UT
1Indus3,180HimalayasArabian SeaPanjnad, Shyok, Dras, ZanskarLadakh, Gujarat
2Brahmaputra2,880HimalayasBay of BengalLhasa, Lohit, Subansiri, TeestaArunachal Pradesh, Assam
3Ganges2,525HimalayasBay of BengalYamuna, Ghaghara, Gomti, Gandaki, Kosi, SonUttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal
4Godavari1,465Western GhatsBay of BengalManjira, Indravati, Sabari, PurnaMaharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh
5Satluj1,450HimalayasIndusChenab, BeasHimachal Pradesh, Punjab
6Krishna1,400Western GhatsBay of BengalBhima, Tungabhadra, GhataprabhaMaharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh
7Yamuna1,376HimalayasGangesChambal, Betwa, KenUttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi
8Narmada1,312Vindhya and SatpuraArabian SeaKolar, Sher, TawaMadhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat
9Ghagara1,080HimalayasGangesSeti, BheriUttar Pradesh, Bihar
10Chambal1,024Vindhya and SatpuraGangesBanas, Parbati, ShipraMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh
11Mahanadi900Eastern GhatsBay of BengalHasdeo, Seonath, Jonk, Ong RiverChhattisgarh, Odisha
12Chenab890HimalayasSutlejRavi, Jhelum, TawiHimachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir
13Kaveri805Western GhatsBay of BengalAmaravati, Hemavati, Bhavani, NoyyalKarnataka, Tamil Nadu
14Son784Vindhya and SatpuraGangesGopad, Rihand, KanharChhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar
15Jhelum729HimalayasChenabPoonch, Lidder, NeelumJammu and Kashmir
16Ravi720HimalayasChenabHimachal Pradesh, Punjab
17Kosi720HimalayasGangesSun Kosi, Arun, TamurUttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar