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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.

Infrastructure

At a glance

  1. 01India has 6,545 completed and functional specified dams, plus 83 under construction in NRSD 2025. The 34 listed here together hold 131.6 BCM of gross storage and 21,716.1 MW of installed hydropower.
  2. 02Tehri 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.
  3. 03The 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.
  4. 04As of the CWC bulletin dated 13 Aug 2026, India's monitored reservoirs are 59% 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.

Sources6
  1. NDSA/CWC: National Register of Specified Dams 2025dharma.cwc.gov.inPDF document
  2. Rajya Sabha: NRSD 2025 completed and under-construction totalssansad.inPDF document
  3. CWC: Weekly Reservoir Storage Bulletin, 13 August 2026rsms.cwc.gov.inPDF document
  4. NWDA: National Water Development Agencynwda.gov.inPublisher page
  5. Ministry of Jal Shaktijalshakti-dowr.gov.inPublisher page
  6. NHPC: Annual reportsnhpcindia.comPublisher page
Source
Central Water Commission (CWC), National Water Development Agency (NWDA), and per-dam project operators
Reporting dates
Major dams as of 8 Apr 2025; river-linking status as of 31 Mar 2025; reservoir bulletin dated 13 Aug 2026

Data provenance

Reporting dates
Major dams as of 8 Apr 2025; river-linking status as of 31 Mar 2025; reservoir bulletin dated 13 Aug 2026
Coverage
34 marquee dams, 7 inter-state river-linking projects, and CWC's 166 monitored reservoirs grouped into five regions
Limitations
The dam list is a curated top set, not the full NRSD inventory of 6,628 completed and under-construction entries. The river-linking project costs reflect the latest revised estimates and will move further. The reservoir snapshot is one weekly slice; expect large seasonal swings.
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