India’s Geographic Coordinates and Standard Time

The sun rises in Arunachal Pradesh nearly two hours before it rises in Gujarat. Yet both states run on the exact same clock.

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Indian Geography · IndGeo0045

One Country, One Clock — Or Two?

82.5°E

Standard Meridian, at Mirzapur

1905

Year IST was adopted

8 states

Crossed by the Tropic of Cancer

Today — one IST

• Single UTC+5:30 nationwide
• Simple administration, transport, commerce
• Sunrise gap of nearly 2 hours, east to west

Proposed — IST-I / IST-II

• CSIR-NPL proposal, one hour apart
• IST-II for the Northeast + Andaman & Nicobar
• ~2.7 billion electricity units saved a year (NIAS estimate)

Why nothing has changed

As of 2026, the Government of India still rejects a second time zone — citing administrative complexity and national unity over the efficiency gains a split clock might bring.

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Must Know

• India’s mainland extends roughly from 8°4’N to 37°6’N in latitude, and 68°7’E to 97°25’E in longitude.
• The Tropic of Cancer (23.5°N) runs across the middle of India, roughly dividing it into a tropical south and a sub-tropical north.
• The Tropic of Cancer passes through eight Indian states: Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura, and Mizoram.
• India’s Standard Meridian is 82.5°E longitude. It passes through Mirzapur, in Uttar Pradesh.
• India uses a single time zone nationwide, Indian Standard Time (IST), set at UTC+5:30.

Good to Know

• India adopted 82.5°E as its Standard Meridian in 1905, replacing separate Bombay and Calcutta local times.
• 82.5°E was chosen because it runs close to the geographic centre of India, from east to west.
• Mirzapur was picked as the reference point since it lies almost exactly on this meridian.
• A single time zone keeps administration, transport, and communication simple across the whole country.
• But India’s mainland spans nearly 30 degrees of longitude. This creates a real gap between clock time and actual sunrise/sunset in the far east and far west.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. India’s Standard Meridian, 82.5°E, passes through which town?

Allahabad

Mirzapur

Varanasi

Kanpur

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Great to Know

• India’s national timekeeper, the CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, has proposed splitting the country into two time zones.
• The proposal calls them IST-I and IST-II, one hour apart. IST-II would cover the northeastern states and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Supporters argue this would better align clock time with actual daylight in the far northeast, where the sun rises much earlier.
• A study by the National Institute of Advanced Studies estimated potential savings of about 2.7 billion electricity units a year from a second time zone.
• As of 2026, the Government of India has not adopted this proposal. It has cited administrative complexity and national unity as reasons to keep a single time zone.