India Political Map with State Capitals

As of 2026, India has 28 states and 8 union territories. This number became familiar after the reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, when Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh became separate union territories. A state normally has its own elected government and more powers under the Constitution, while a union territory is administered more directly by the Union government. For exam notes, write the number first, then revise the map. Numbers are easy to remember only when you can locate them.

The 28 Indian states and their capitals are: Andhra Pradesh - Amaravati, Arunachal Pradesh - Itanagar, Assam - Dispur, Bihar - Patna, Chhattisgarh - Raipur, Goa - Panaji, Gujarat - Gandhinagar, Haryana - Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh - Shimla, Jharkhand - Ranchi, Karnataka - Bengaluru, Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram, Madhya Pradesh - Bhopal, Maharashtra - Mumbai, Manipur - Imphal, Meghalaya - Shillong, Mizoram - Aizawl, Nagaland - Kohima, Odisha - Bhubaneswar, Punjab - Chandigarh, Rajasthan - Jaipur, Sikkim - Gangtok, Tamil Nadu - Chennai, Telangana - Hyderabad, Tripura - Agartala, Uttarakhand - Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh - Lucknow, and West Bengal - Kolkata. For final exam notes, check the latest official political map as well.

Punjab and Haryana share the same capital: Chandigarh. Chandigarh is not part of either state in the ordinary state-capital sense; it is a union territory and also serves as the capital of both Punjab and Haryana. This arrangement came after the reorganization of Punjab and the creation of Haryana in 1966. For exams, the safe line is: Chandigarh is a union territory and the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana. Do not write that Chandigarh belongs only to one of them.

Telangana is the newest state of India. It was formed on 2 June 2014 after being carved out of Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad became the capital of Telangana. In exams, students sometimes confuse this with the 2019 change related to Jammu and Kashmir, but that change created union territories, not a new state. So the correct state-related answer is Telangana. Keep the date with it: 2 June 2014. That one detail often appears in objective questions. Practise this on a blank map, because lists alone are easy to forget.

A state in India has its own elected government, a chief minister, a council of ministers, and a state legislature. It has powers over subjects listed in the State List, along with shared powers in the Concurrent List. A union territory is administered more directly by the Union government through an administrator or lieutenant governor. Some union territories, such as Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir, have legislatures, so there are exceptions. The simple contrast is: states have fuller federal powers; union territories are more centrally administered.

For Pakistan, the Indian border is connected with Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, though the last two are union territories. For China, the border is connected with Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. If the question says only "states," still mark the union territories separately on your map, because modern political geography matters. For exam revision, make two lists: western border with Pakistan and northern/eastern Himalayan border with China. For final exam notes, check the latest official political map as well. Dynasty / Ruler Sequence Drills