India's Groundwater Crisis

Why India pumps more groundwater than any other country, how free electricity for pumps contributes, and the policies aimed at saving aquifers.

Much of India’s farming, and the drinking water of many towns and villages, depends on groundwater: water stored underground in aquifers and drawn up through wells and tube wells. India uses more groundwater than any other country in the world, and in many regions, water tables are falling.

How groundwater use grew

From the 1970s onward, affordable electric and diesel pumps allowed millions of farmers to drill tube wells. Groundwater irrigation helped power India’s Green Revolution, raising harvests and incomes. Today, groundwater supplies a large share of India’s irrigation and much of its drinking water.

Why aquifers are depleting

Free or cheap electricity: many states provide free or heavily subsidised electricity for farm pumps. When pumping costs almost nothing, farmers have little reason to save water.
Water-intensive crops: crops such as rice and sugarcane are grown in water-scarce regions, supported by minimum support prices and assured procurement.
Open access: groundwater under a farmer’s land is generally treated as belonging to the landowner, but aquifers are shared, so each farmer’s pumping lowers the water table for neighbours.
Limited monitoring and regulation.

The Central Ground Water Board’s assessments have identified many areas as over-exploited, where extraction exceeds recharge, especially in states such as Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and parts of Tamil Nadu.

The rice paradox in Punjab

Punjab is one of India's main rice-producing states, even though rice needs large amounts of water and the state's natural rainfall is modest. Free electricity for pumps and guaranteed government purchase of rice make it profitable. As a result, water tables in much of Punjab have fallen steeply. Economists describe this as exporting the state's groundwater to the rest of India in the form of rice.

Policy responses

Separate electricity feeders for farm pumps, used in Gujarat, allowing reliable but rationed power supply for agriculture.
Delayed rice transplanting: Punjab and Haryana passed laws in 2009 delaying rice planting until closer to the monsoon, reducing groundwater use.
Crop diversification incentives to shift away from water-intensive crops.
Micro-irrigation, such as drip and sprinkler systems.
Atal Bhujal Yojana, a national programme launched in 2019 to promote community management of groundwater.

Trade-offs

Changing electricity subsidies is politically difficult, as farmers depend on them. Economists often suggest combining reforms with direct income support, so farmers do not lose out while being encouraged to save water.

Thinking groundwater is an unlimited reserve

Aquifers refill slowly through rain and rivers. When pumping exceeds recharge year after year, water tables fall, wells dry up and pumping becomes more expensive. Groundwater that took centuries to accumulate can be depleted within decades.

Key takeaways

India uses more groundwater than any other country, and many aquifers are over-exploited.
Free electricity for pumps and water-intensive crops drive depletion.
Punjab's rice production has contributed to steeply falling water tables.
Separate feeders, delayed planting, micro-irrigation and community management aim to save water.