River Basins

On the basis of the size of the watershed:

Major river basins – with more than 20,000 sq. km of catchment area. It includes 14 drainage basins such as the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, the Krishna, the Tapi, the Narmada, the Mahi, the Pennar, the Sabarmati, the Barak, etc.
Medium river basins – with catchment area between 2,000-20,000 sq. km incorporating 44 river basins such as the Kalindi, the Periyar, the Meghna, etc.
Minor river basins – with catchment area of less than 2,000 sq. Km, these include 55 river basins.

The entire country has been divided into 20 river basins/groups of river basins. 

• The 12 major river basins are:
  1. Indus
  2. Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna
  3. Godavari
  4. Krishna
  5. Cauvery
  6. Mahanadi
  7. Pennar
  8. Brahmani-Baitarani
  9. Sabarmati
  10. Mahi
  11. Narmada
  12. Tapti.
• Each of these basins has a drainage area exceeding 20,000 sq. km.
• The eight composite river basins combining suitably together all the other remaining medium (drainage area of 2,000 to 20,000 sq. km) and small river systems (drainage area less than 2000 sq. km) for the purpose of planning and management.