Location	Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan
Geographic coordinates	20 00 N, 77 00 E
Area	total: 3,287,590 sq km land: 2,973,190 sq km water: 314,400 sq km
Land boundaries	total: 14,103 km border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km
Coastline	7,000 km
Maritime claims	contiguous zone: 24 NM territorial sea: 12 NM continental shelf: 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
Climate	varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north
Terrain	upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m
Natural resources	coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land
Land use	arable land: 54.35% permanent crops: 2.66% other: 42.99% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land	590,000 sq km (1998 est.)
	source: www.cia.gov