List of districts in India

A district (zila), also known as revenue district, is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. In some cases, districts are further subdivided into sub-divisions, and in others directly into tehsils or talukas. As of 27 March 2025^[update], there are a total of 780 districts in India. This count includes Mahe and Yanam which are Census districts and not Administrative districts and also includes the temporary Maha Kumbh Mela district but excludes Itanagar Capital Complex which has a Deputy Commissioner but is not an official district.

District Administration

The District officials include

District & Sessions Judge (Principal & additional), an officer belonging to the Indian Judicial Service (state), responsible for justice and passing orders of imprisonment, including the death penalty and also have limited administrative power. Also have appellate jurisdiction over all subordinate courts in the district for both civil and criminal matters.
District Magistrate or Deputy Commissioner or District Collector, an officer of the Indian Administrative Service, in charge of administration and revenue collection
Superintendent of Police or Senior Superintendent of Police or Deputy Commissioner of Police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service, responsible for maintaining law and order. Superintendent of Police is incharge of the police administration of the respective police district. The police district is either coterminous with the revenue district or divided into two within the revenue district.
Deputy Conservator of Forests, an officer belonging to the Indian Forest Service, entrusted with the management of the forests, environment and wildlife of the district
Other district-level officials of respective state government departments, such as the District Educational Officer, District Medical Officer, District Supply Officer, District Fire Officer, District Development Commissioner, etc.

Each of these officials is aided by officers from the appropriate branch of the state government. Most districts have a distinct headquarters; but the districts of Mumbai City in Maharashtra, Kolkata in West Bengal, Hyderabad in Telangana, and Chennai in Tamil Nadu are examples where there are no distinct district headquarters, although there are district collectors.

Overview

Naming

The majority of districts are named after their administrative centre. Some are referred to by two names, a traditional one and one that uses the name of the town that is the headquarters. Since most of the districts are named after a town, the word "district" is appended to distinguish between the town and the district.

Similar names

Districts sharing their name with another district in India

Districts sharing their name with a district in a neighbouring country in South Asia

Bhojpur district, Bihar shares a name with Bhojpur District, Nepal
Daman district, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu shares a name with Daman District, Afghanistan
Dang district, Gujarat shares a name with Dang District, Nepal
Ghaziabad district, Uttar Pradesh shares a name with Ghaziabad District, Afghanistan
Gopalganj district, Bihar shares a name with Gopalganj District, Bangladesh
Hyderabad district, Telangana shares a name with Hyderabad District, Pakistan
Lalitpur district, Uttar Pradesh shares a name with Lalitpur District, Nepal
Poonch district, Jammu and Kashmir, shares a name with Poonch District, Pakistan (the two were, prior to Partition, one district – which got split by the Line of Control, since then the two parts have been administered separately)

Districts sharing names with those outside of South Asia entirely

Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh, with Dhar District, Yemen
Banda district, Uttar Pradesh with Banda District, Republic of the Congo and Banda District, Ghana
Mansa district, Punjab, with Mansa District, Zambia.
Salem district, Tamil Nadu with Salem, Massachusetts, United States, Salem, Brebes Regency, Indonesia, Salem, Oregon, United States
Indore district, Madhya Pradesh with Indore, West Virginia

States

The following tables list the population details of various states. The columns include the hierarchical administrative subdivision codes, the district name, district headquarters, 2011 census population, area in square kilometres, and the population density per square kilometre.

Andhra Pradesh (AP)

Arunachal Pradesh (AR)

Assam (AS)

Bihar (BR)

Chhattisgarh (CG)

Goa (GA)

Gujarat (GJ)

Haryana (HR)

Himachal Pradesh (HP)

Jharkhand (JH)

Karnataka (KA)

Kerala (KL)

Madhya Pradesh (MP)

Maharashtra (MH)

Manipur (MN)

Meghalaya (ML)

Mizoram (MZ)

Nagaland (NL)

Odisha (OD)

Punjab (PB)

Rajasthan (RJ)

Sikkim (SK)

Tamil Nadu (TN)

Telangana (TG)

Tripura (TR)

Uttar Pradesh (UP)

Uttarakhand (UK)

West Bengal (WB)

Union territories

Andaman and Nicobar (AN)

Chandigarh (CH)

Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (DD)

Jammu and Kashmir (JK)

Ladakh (LA)

Lakshadweep (LD)

National Capital Territory of Delhi (DL)

Puducherry (PY)

Footnotes

References

Union Territories

District Census Handbook – Andaman & Nicobar Islands (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
District Census Handbook – Chandigarh (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
District Census Handbook – Dadra and Nagar Haveli (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
District Census Handbook – Daman (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
District Census Handbook – Diu (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
District Census Handbook – Lakshadweep (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
District Census Handbook – N.C.T. of Delhi (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
District Census Handbook – Puducherry – Karaikal (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
District Census Handbook – Puducherry – Mahe (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
District Census Handbook – Puducherry – Puducherry (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
District Census Handbook – Puducherry – Yanam (PDF). Directorate of Census Operations – GoI. 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2019.

External links

Districts of India, Indian Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology website