Geographical Extent of India
📌 Latitude and Longitude
- Latitudinal Extent:
From 8°4’N (Cape Comorin, Kanyakumari) to 37°6’N (Indira Col in Jammu & Kashmir)
- Longitudinal Extent:
From 68°7’E (Gujarat) to 97°25’E (Arunachal Pradesh)
🕒 Time Difference Due to Longitudinal Extent
- India’s east-west extent spans about 29° of longitude.
- This causes a time difference of approximately 2 hours from Gujarat (west) to Arunachal Pradesh (east).
- To maintain uniformity, 82°30’E (near Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh) is taken as the Indian Standard Time (IST) meridian.
📏 Land Area
- Total area: 3.28 million sq km
- 7th largest country in the world by area.
- Covers 2.4% of the world’s land surface.
🌊 Length of Coastline
- Mainland coastline: approx. 6,100 km
- Total including islands: 7,516.6 km
🗺️ Borders and Neighbors
- Land borders with 7 countries:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar
- Maritime neighbors across the sea:
Sri Lanka, Maldives, Indonesia (via Andaman Sea)
