Abstract
India is the most populous country in the world which shares eighteen percent of the total population. Consequently, its states and union territories are in ecological overshoot, depleting and polluting the biophysical basis of its own existence. In this context, understanding ecological footprint which is a land-based composite indicator for assessing the environmental impact of human activities at sub-national level and assessing the sustainability has become crucial. By employing environmentally extended Multi-Regional Input Output (MRIO) model, this study estimates consumption-based ecological footprint and bio capacity of 28 states and 4 union territories (UTs) in the country for the year 2015, and analyse the estimated Ecological Footprint and Bio Capacity across the states in India through sustainability quadrants. The study finds that most Indian states and union territories had a negative ecological balance and was completely unsustainable in the year 2015, which means that states’ Ecological Footprint (EF) exceeded their Bio Capacity (BC). In other words, most Indian states were depleting their natural resources faster than their regeneration or import from elsewhere. The present study confirms that the most efficient way of improving ecological balance and making states ecologically sustainable can be achieved by reducing carbon footprint through dynamic and rational change in consumption behaviour.