India’s groundwater resources are vital for drinking and crop irrigation. Therefore, groundwater plays a crucial role in ensuring water and food security in the country. It accounts for about 85% and 50% of fresh water for drinking in rural areas and urban areas, respectively, and about 60% of irrigation water, according to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). But, extraction of groundwater has exceeded its annual recharge resulting in overexploitation and depletion of water table in many major states in the country. As a result, about 11% of total assessment units in the country are categorised as “over-exploited”, while about 3% are categorised as “critical”, according to the National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India 2025 report by CGWB. In addition, impacts of climate change are also adversely affecting rainfall and groundwater recharge pattern. Under such a scenario, there is an urgent need to devise necessary measures to conserve groundwater resources to meet the growing demands for drinking and irrigation water requirements in the country.Causes and consequencesDemand from rising population: One of the major reasons is that steadily growing population is raising the direct demand for drinking water as well as indirect demand for irrigation to produce food and for other uses in the industrial sector. India has to feed about 18% of world population with about 4% of global water resources, according to a World Bank report. The annual extraction of groundwater continued to increase from about 239 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2022 to over 247 bcm in 2025, according to the CGWB. The agriculture sector is the largest consumer of groundwater resources, accounting for 87% followed by drinking and domestic use for about 11% and industrial use at about 2% of the total annual groundwater extraction of 247.22 bcm in 2025.Increasing cultivation of water guzzling crops: Promoted by electricity subsidies and assured procurement, the cultivation of water-guzzling crops such as rice, wheat and sugarcane has increased over the past six decades, replacing water-conserving, environment-friendly crops like pulses and oilseeds, as evident from chart 1. The area cultivated under rice continues to increase for over a decade from about 435 lakh hectares in 2015-16 to a record 513 lakh hectares in 2024-25.Source: Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.Further, a majority of area under irrigation is used largely for cultivation of rice, wheat and sugarcane. As a result, over 95% of wheat cultivation and about 65% of rice cultivation is under irrigation primarily using groundwater resources, while only less than 15% of area is under irrigation in case of major pulses, oilseeds and nutri-cereals that consume substantially less water compared to rice, sugarcane and wheat. Salination and quality deterioration: Overexploitation is also leading to accumulation of salts and salination of soil. In addition, inefficient and excessive fertiliser application, intensive and mono-crop cultivation of rice with flood irrigation and poor drainage practices, etc. are leading to increased accumulation of nitrates and deterioration of the quality of groundwater. According to Annual Ground Water Quality Report 2025 of CGWB, high nitrate concentrations, exceeding 45 milligram per litre, are observed in North-Western and Central India, particularly in major rice growing states like Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.Road aheadOn the demand side, agriculture being the largest consumer, there is a need to reorient subsidies and support policies especially free electricity for irrigation and unlimited procurement of rice and wheat. There is also a need to promote cultivation of less water consuming crops like nutri-cereals, pulses, oilseeds etc., reorienting subsidy measures with suitable incentives, technology support and market linkages. It is also necessary to implement compulsory crop rotation especially rice cultivation with flood irrigation practices in collaboration with major producing states. Further, promote cultivation of direct seeded rice cultivation to reduce water consumption and also to contain leaching of chemical fertilisers into groundwater. Need to promote use of organic fertilisers and optimal fertiliser use. In addition, the need to promote micro/drip irrigation practices for efficient use of water. In this regard, three is a need to create awareness among farmers about the consequences of continuous over-exploitation of groundwater and explain why the shift from water guzzling crops to low water consuming crops is necessary. There is also a need to promote responsible use and efficient management of groundwater with regulatory nudge and through encouraging community participation in understanding the use of exhaustible common natural resources.On the supply side, it is imperative to enhance groundwater replenishment through promoting water harvesting. Hence, Jal Shakti Abhiyan, National Aquifer Mapping Programme, etc should be implemented properly and scaled up for artificial recharge of groundwater resources. In addition, it is essential to improve surface irrigation by de-silting and restoration of tanks and canals, not only for increasing their carrying capacity but also for improving groundwater recharge. With increasing adverse weather events from climate change, destabilising monsoon distribution and pattern, it is essential to efficiently manage water resources through promoting community participation.In view of the rapid depletion in groundwater resources, there is an urgent need to devise and implement requisite policy measures addressing these challenges. These measures must ensure efficient management of ground water demand and extraction, as well as its replenishment to secure sustainable food and water security in the country.Amarender Reddy is joint director at Policy Support Research, ICAR-National Institute of Biotic Stress Management (ICAR-NIBSM), Raipur. Tulsi Lingareddy is a senior economist at Sustainable Finance and Agriculture, Mumbai.