India: Size, Location and Neighbours

India lies entirely in the northern hemisphere. Its mainland extends between latitudes 8°4′ N and 37°6′ N and longitudes 68°7′ E and 97°25′ E, while the southernmost point of the country, Indira Point in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, lies further south at about 6°45′ N. With an area of about 3.287 million square kilometres, India is the seventh-largest country in the world by area, accounting for about 2.4 per cent of the world's land surface. The Tropic of Cancer, at 23°30′ N, passes through the middle of the country and divides it broadly into a tropical south and a more subtropical north.

India's north-south extent is about 3,214 kilometres and its east-west extent about 2,933 kilometres. Because the longitudinal extent is close to 30 degrees, local solar time would differ by about two hours between the east and the west. To avoid confusion, the whole country follows Indian Standard Time, based on the standard meridian of 82°30′ E, which passes near Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. Indian Standard Time is five hours and thirty minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. This single time zone is a practical choice for administration, railways and broadcasting, even though daylight arrives noticeably earlier in the north-east than in the west.

On land, India shares borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan in the north-west, China, Nepal and Bhutan in the north, and Myanmar and Bangladesh in the east. The land boundary is about 15,200 kilometres long. To the south, the peninsula tapers into the Indian Ocean, with the Arabian Sea on the west and the Bay of Bengal on the east. Including the island groups, the coastline is about 7,516.6 kilometres long. This central position in the Indian Ocean has long made India a meeting point for trade routes between West Asia, South-East Asia and East Africa.

Location therefore shapes more than a map. It explains why India's climate ranges from Himalayan cold to tropical heat, why its ports face two different seas, and why its border regions have such different histories and cultures. A civil studies reader should learn to read location first: latitude explains the broad climate belts, the seas explain trade and monsoon moisture, and the long land borders explain why relations with neighbours are a permanent part of public policy.