The longitudinal extent of India is from about 68°7′E to 97°25′E, a spread of roughly 29–30 degrees of longitude.

Quick Scoop

  • India stretches west to east from around 68°7′E (Gujarat) to 97°25′E (Arunachal Pradesh).
  • This longitudinal extent covers a distance of about 2,933 km across the mainland.
  • Because of this spread, India should logically have many time zones, but it follows a single standard time based on 82°30′E (Indian Standard Time, IST).

Why this matters

  1. Time difference across India
    • The east (near Arunachal Pradesh) sees sunrise and sunset much earlier than the west (Gujarat) because of the wide longitudinal extent.
 * Roughly, 1 degree of longitude equals 4 minutes of time, so about 29–30 degrees create close to a 2-hour local time difference between the extremes.
  1. Single time zone impact
    • Despite this natural time difference, India uses one legal time zone (IST), which sometimes causes very early sunrises in the northeast and later ones in the west.
 * This has led to ongoing discussions in forums and news about whether India should adopt **multiple time zones** for better productivity and energy use.

If you’re answering an exam-style question, you can simply write:
“The longitudinal extent of India is from 68°7′E to 97°25′E (about 30°).”

TL;DR: India’s longitudinal extent is 68°7′E to 97°25′E (about 30°), giving a west–east width of nearly 2,933 km and creating almost a 2-hour natural time gap across the country.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.