India ranks seventh in the world by total area, covering about 3.29 million square kilometres.
India occupies most of the Indian subcontinent and extends from the Himalayan region in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south. Its territory includes the Thar Desert, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Deccan Plateau and island groups in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal.
The six countries generally ranked ahead of India by total area are Russia, Canada, China, the United States, Brazil and Australia. Exact rankings can vary slightly when sources handle inland waters or disputed borders differently, but India’s seventh-place position is standard.
India is also one of the world’s most populous countries, so its large territory supports a very high population density in many regions. Area ranking and population ranking measure completely different aspects of a country’s scale.