Infrastructure · Water and dams
Where India holds its water.
Large dams, inter-state river-linking projects, and how full the country's reservoirs are right now.
Key Takeaways
- India operates 6,138 large dams (CWC NRLD) — the third-largest stock in the world. The 34 listed here together hold 131.6 BCM of gross storage and 21,716.1 MW of installed hydropower.
- Tehri Dam on the Bhagirathi is India's tallest dam at 260.5 m; Indira Sagar Dam on the Narmada holds the most water at 12.22 BCM; Subansiri Lower Dam has the largest installed hydropower at 2,000 MW.
- The Ken-Betwa Link, foundation stone laid by the Prime Minister in December 2024, is the first inter-state river-link to break ground in independent India. 2 of 7 listed projects are now under construction.
- As of the CWC bulletin dated 30 Apr 2026, India's monitored reservoirs are 39% full at the live-capacity FRL — refreshed weekly.
Cumulative installed hydropower
Running total of installed hydropower (MW) at the listed dams, by year of completion.
Largest dams by gross storage
Top dams in this list ranked by live storage capacity at FRL, in BCM.
Largest dams by installed hydropower
Top dams in this list ranked by installed hydropower capacity, in MW.
Tallest dams by structural height
Height above lowest foundation, in metres — Tehri's 260.5 m rock-fill dam tops the list.
Listed dams by primary purpose
How many of the major dams in this list serve each purpose. Most are multipurpose, so totals exceed the number of dams.
Cumulative gross storage commissioned
Running total of gross storage capacity (BCM) added by year of commissioning across the dams in this list.