Indian State and Union Territory Flags Ranked From Best to Worst

India is divided into 28 states and 8 union territories. As of today, none of them have their own "officially recognised" flags. The Indian law doesn't prohibit a state or a union territory to have a flag of its own. The Flag Code of India permits other flags to be flown along with the national flag, but not on the same pole or in a position superior to it.

They, however, have an emblem (or a seal). To distinguish the government of a state or a union territory, the emblem is displayed on a white field. This blog ranks the so-called state governmental banners from best to worst.

Note: These banners or flags are used to represent only the government of the state or union territory. Most citizens do not know about the existence of such flags at the first place. Even if they do, they don't identify with these flags.

I have included eight more flags in this ranking. These are former, unofficial or proposed flags. They are marked with a question mark, but they are in the ranking nonetheless.

All rankings are completely subjective and arbitrary.

Edit 27 September: Ladakh has a separate flag now, and hence, the ranking has been slightly modified.

Simple and bold flag. The hornbills and the bison correctly allude to the land of dawn-lit mountains.

Looks more like a logo, but it's cool. The two fishes and the coconut tree are visually appealing.

A plain and simple, yet an intriguing flag. I like this flag very much. If it were coloured, I would have ranked it first! The swastikas are considered auspicious in both Hinduism and Buddhism.

Orange is a nice colour! It features the Open Hand Monument designed by Le Corbusier, symbolising peace and reconciliation.

I might be biased, but I love the colours blue and orange. This flag correctly describes the land of snow laden mountains.

I honestly don't know what's going on in this flag, but it looks great.

This one is distinctive enough because of the intricate tribal designs.

As the name suggests (chhattis means 36), there are 36 forts in it. The colour scheme is pretty solid and I'm obliged to give it this ranking.

Pretty good emblem, I'd say. The golden gopuram really stands out.

This one is inspired by its predecessor – the Travancore state. The elephants, the conch and the decorations underneath make it a complex flag. It is nonetheless impressive.

The border is too thick. The dharma wheel in the centre looks nice, eh?

A bit complex, but the colours stand out nicely. By the way, what are those lion-like animals with trunks?

The emblem is same as above. The yellow and red combination is really good. It avoids being too simple, and it's all thanks to the emblem.

This design is fairly nice. The symbolism is not fully accurate. If it were coloured, it could have made it up higher.

This one is a neat design. It could have employed more accurate symbolism for the northern land.

Neat and clean design. If the field were blue, I bet it would have been mistaken for an American state flag!

Another golden emblem. 16 lotus blossoms adorn the emblem. Although, I didn't understand the symbolism very well for this flag, it is visually appeasing.

This is the flag of a separatist movement. There's hardly any symbolism in it, but it is colourful.

This one is alright, but why is there a partial world map in it?

The emblem is almost identical to #8, except it's not golden, which is the reason for its low ranking. Also, why is the flag grey?

Yet another black-and-white flag that could have done good only if it were coloured. The emblem features the Kanglasha, a mythological creature which is half-lion and half-dragon.

I didn't understand the symbolism of this flag, but it looks good. It is a bit complex too.

Fairly similar to the Andhra Pradesh flag. This one also has a dull colour scheme, but the symbolism is good.

A banyan tree is simply not enough. Also, red and brown, in my opinion, don't go together.

I'm not fond of this one. This reminds me of the logos of police forces. Symbolism is also poor.

Four green ... wait a minute! What are those? Js? Daggers? Socks? Whatever they are, they encircle the Ashoka Chakra. A very unique design, I'd say, but not up to the mark.

Though a solid design, it is very complicated.

You might probably recognise this flag. It had official status until 2019. I don't like this flag, though. It doesn't symbolise the paradise on earth in a perfect manner.

This is the flag of the Kannada people. It has been the de facto flag for the state since a very long time. As mentioned above, the red and yellow combination is really good, but this flag is way too simple.

One more black and white flag! This one also lacks proper symbolism.

This one honestly lacks creativity.

This for the state of the Punjab? No way! If I were to redesign this flag, I would have included the five rivers in it, which give the state its name.

I am not sure about this flag. It was seen in the hands of a Ladakhi mountaineer, so I guess it is the new flag. Anyway, this is clearly not a very unique design. The blue and gold go together and it is certainly better than what you are about to see below!

I am obliged to group all these 10 flags together. They have no distinct emblems but use the national emblem of India. Now, the national emblem is quite an emblem, but all these states and territories using them are distinct enough to have their own separate emblems. Perhaps, they'll change it in the future.

You might be wondering why is this flag lower than the previous 11 despite being completely identical to them. This is because of the absurdly long name of the union territory. I call it D-land. What about you?

That was it! The Indian state and union territory flags ranked from best to worst. I would like to remind you once again that these are used to represent only the government and not the citizens.

Having separate flags is a very sensitive issue in India. Jammu and Kashmir was the only state to have had an official flag. It was abolished in 2019.

It is fun to think how the Indian state and union territoriy flags would look like! Here is a Quora link for the question! One of the answers there is written by a well-known JetPunk user!

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