Minister of State for Jal Shakti Raj Bhushan Choudhary said, India is one of the largest users of groundwater in the world.

In a reply in Rajya Sabha today, he said, the country has roughly 4 percent of the world’s freshwater reserves to cater to the needs of its population which is around 17 percent of the world’s total.

Choudhary said the total annual extractable groundwater resources for the country has been assessed as 407.21 billion cubic meters and the total annual groundwater extraction is assessed as 241.34 billion cubic meters.