States and union territories of India

States and union territories of India
Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh National Capital Territory Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Ladakh Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Andaman and Nicobar Islands Chandigarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Lakshadweep Puducherry
Category	Federated states
Location	Republic of India
Created by	Constitution of India
Created	26 January 1950 (74 years ago) (1950-01-26)
Number	28 States 8 Union territories (as of 2024)
Populations	States: Sikkim – 610,577 (lowest) Uttar Pradesh – 199,812,341 (highest) Union Territories: Lakshadweep – 64,473 (lowest) Delhi – 16,787,941 (highest)
Areas	States: Goa – 3,702 km2 (1,429 sq mi) (smallest) Rajasthan – 342,269 km2 (132,151 sq mi) (largest) Union territories: Lakshadweep – 32 km2 (12 sq mi) (smallest) Ladakh – 59,146 km2 (22,836 sq mi) (largest)
Government	Government of India State governments
Subdivisions	Divisions Districts Tehsils

India is a federal republic comprising 28 states and 8 union territories. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.

The states are self-governing administrative divisions, each having a state government. The governing powers of the states are shared between the state government and the union government. The union territories are directly governed by the union government though some of the union territories have their own territorial government with certain autonomy.

The framework for the states and union territories were established by the Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26 January 1950. As per the Indian Constitution, the power to demarcate states and union territories in India is solely reserved with the Parliament of India, which can form new states/union territories, separate/merge territories from/to an existing state or convert states to union territories or vice versa.