[Updated] List of 62 Most Important Lakes in India (State Wise) 2021 : SSC & Railway

Lake is a surface water body that is surrounded by land. Rivers will be outlet or inlet to the lakes i.e. lakes take the water from rivers or act as a source of water. Lakes are found in various landscapes like Hilly areas, plains, plateaus, rift zones, etc. In this article, we will read state wise list of Natural Lakes in India.

Type of Lakes

There are various types of lakes which can be classified based on different criteria – They are Fresh Water Lakes, Salt Water lakes, Natural Lakes, Artificial Lakes, oxbow lake, Crater Lake etc. The details of these lakes are mentioned below:

Fresh Water Lake

Fresh Water Lake are unsalted water which are usually found in low lying areas these are fed from rivers, streams, and runoff from the surrounding area.

Salt Water Lake

As the name suggests saltwater lake contains a concentration of salts and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (at least 3 grams per litre of water).

Artificial Lake

Artificial Lake is a man-made lake that is used to store water for public use.

Oxbow Lake

Oxbow lake is formed when a wide meander of a river is cut off. A lake is then formed when the river finds a different shorter course.

Crater Lake

A crater lake is created from the collapse or explosive activity of volcanic eruption.

Use of Lakes

Lakes have various applications like drinking water, irrigation, navigation, water storage, livelihood (fishing, etc.), impact on microclimate, etc.

Important Facts About Lakes in India

Largest freshwater lake in India – Wular Lake, Jammu and Kashmir
Largest Saline water lake in India – Chilka Lake, Odisha
Highest lake in India (Altitude) – Cholamu lake, Sikkim
Longest Lake in India – Vembanad lake, Kerala
Largest Artificial Lake in India – Govind Vallabh Pant Sagar (Rihand Dam)

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List of 62 Important Natural Lakes India

The below table enlists all the important lakes in India and their details including state, district, and fact/ descriptions about them:

State	Name	District	Type of Lakes	Facts/Description
Andhra Pradesh	Pulicat Lake	Sullurpet	Brackish Water	It encompasses Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary; Satish Dhawan Space Centre located here
	Kolleru Lake	Vijayawada	Freshwater	Home to migratory birds
	Nagarjuna Sagar	Nalgonda	Freshwater	Artificially constructed; Krishna river
Assam	Haflong Lake	Silchar	Freshwater	High altitude lake
	DeeporBeel	Kamrup	Freshwater	Under Ramsar Convention
	Son Beel	Karimganj	Freshwater (Tectonically formed)	Largest wetland in Assam
	Chandubi lake	Kamrup	Freshwater	Migratory Birds (winter); formed by 1897 earthquake
Bihar	Kanwar Lake	Begusarai	Oxbow (freshwater)	Asia’s largest freshwater oxbow lake;
Gujarat	Hamirsar lake	Kutch	Artificial	Situated in centre of Bhuj
	Kankaria lake	Ahmedabad	Artificial	During 14th century by Muhammed Shah II
	Narayan Sarovar	Kutch	Artificial freshwater	Pilgrimage site for Hindus
	Thol Lake	Mehsana	Lentic lake	Constructed for irrigation purpose
	Vastrapur	Ahmedabad	Freshwater	Narmada River; Picnic spot
Haryana	Badkal Lake	Faridabad	Freshwater	Man made
	Blue Bird Lake	Hisar	Freshwater	Migratory Birds, Wetland Habitat
	Brahma Sarovar	Thaneswar	Freshwater	Ancient water pool sacred to Hinduism
	Damdama Lake	Sohna	Freshwater	Constructed by British government for Rainwater Harvesting
	Karna	Karnal	Freshwater	Connected to great epic Mahabharata
	Tilyar	Rohtak	Freshwater (canal inflow)	Located inside Tilyar Zoo
Himachal Pradesh	Chandra Taal	Lahul and Spiti	Sweetwater lake	Ramsar wetland site
	Suraj Taal	Lahul and Spiti	Freshwater (High Altitude)	Bhaga River inflow
	MaharanaPratapSagar	Kangra	Freshwater	Ramsar site
	Prashar lake	Mandi	Holomitic (Freshwater)	It has a floating Island
Jammu & Kashmir	Dal lake	Srinagar	Warm monomitic	Remnants of past glacial period
	Pangong Tso	Ladakh	Endorheic Lake (saline water)	Indo-China Border
	Wular lake	Bandipora	Tectonic lake (freshwater)	Largest freshwater lake in India
	TsoMoriri	Ladakh	Saltwater	High altitude lake
Karnataka	Agara lake	Bangalore	Freshwater	Located in southwest part of the city
	Bellandur Lake	Bangalore	Freshwater	-
	Karanji lake	Mysore	-	Butterfly park
	Ulsoor lake	Bangalore	Stale water	It has several islands
	Kukarahalli lake	Mysore	Freshwater	Recreational
	Honnamana	Kodagu	Freshwater	Holy lake, place for various festivals
	Pampa Sarovar	Hampi	Freshwater	Tungabhadra river
Kerala	Ashtamudi Kayal	Kollam	Brackish water	Ramsar wetland site
	Kuttanad	Alappuzha, Kottayam		Backwater paddy cultivation
	Vembanad	-	Brackish water	Ramsar wetland; boat race
	Shashtamkotta	Kollam	Freshwater	Ramsar wetland
Madhya Pradesh	Bhojtal	Bhopal	Freshwater	Ramsar site; largest artificial lake in India
Maharashtra	Salim Ali	Aurangabad	Freshwater	Birdwatching
	Shivsagar	Satara	Freshwater	Koyna dam
	Lonar lake	Buldhana	Crater lake	National Geo-Heritage monument
Manipur	Loktak lake	-	Lenticular freshwater	Ramsar wetland; Phumdis (Floating Islands); Multipurpose project
Meghalaya	Umiam	Shillong	Freshwater	Famous for cycling and boating
Mizoram	Tam Dil	Saitual	Freshwater	-
Orissa	Chilika lake	Puri	Brackish water	India's largest brackish water lake; lagoon
Orissa	Kanjia lake	Bhubaneswar	Freshwater	Wetland of national importance
Punjab	Harike	Ferozepur	Freshwater	Ramsar wetland site
	Rupar	Rupnagar	Freshwater	Manmade riverine lake
	Kanjli	Kapurthala	Freshwater	Ramsar wetland site
Rajasthan	Sambhar lake	Sambhar Lake-town	Saltwater	Ramsar wetland; largest inland saltwater lake in India
Rajasthan	Rajsamand	Rajsamand	Freshwater	-
Sikkim	Tsomgo lake	East Sikkim	Freshwater	Winter frozen
Sikkim	Khecheoplari	West Sikkim	Freshwater	Sacred lake for Hindus and Buddhists
Tamil Nadu	Ooty lake	Nilgiris	Freshwater	Boat House
Tamil Nadu	Chembarambakkam	Chennai	Artificial lake	-
Telangana	Hussain Sagar	Hyderabad	Artificial lake	Artificial Gibraltar rock-island
Telangana	Badrakali lake	Warangal	Freshwater	Artificial lake
Uttar Pradesh	Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar	Sonbhadra	Man-made lake	Rihand dam
Uttar Pradesh	Belasagar	Kulpahar	Freshwater	Irrigation lake
Uttarakhand	Bhimtal	Nainital	Freshwater	Medium altitude lake
West Bengal	East Calcutta wetlands	Calcutta	Brackish water	Ramsar wetland