India has the largest irrigated area in the world, with about 85 per cent of the total irrigation potential (139.90 million hectares). An estimate by the Ministry of Water Resources (2008) shows the total demand for water will overshoot the supply by 2050. With this alarming scenario, how are we going to solve the ever-increasing water scarcity problem? 
The agricultural sector (irrigation) currently consumes about 80 per cent of water in India. Data on water use efficiency indicates that India uses 2-3 times more water than major agricultural countries like China, Brazil and the US to produce one unit of food crop.
According to a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry report- Drip/Micro irrigation is the most effective practice with water use efficiency of around 85-90 per cent as compared to other methods where it ranges from 15-40%. Significant electricity savings of an average of 30.5 per cent have been estimated and high fertilizer-use efficiency reported, resulting in an average consumption reduction of 28.5 per cent.
Another advantage of Drip/Micro/Sprinkler Irrigation is the maintenance of optimum soil moisture conditions that help increase overall productivity and profitability.
Across various studies, it has been found that the adoption of micro-irrigation systems helped boost the yield of fruit as well as vegetable crops up to 100%
It is quite evident that the importance of micro-irrigation to achieve sustainability in Indian agriculture cannot be neglected. But it’s a long way ahead and requires extensive demonstrations, training and awareness programmes to bring the Indian farming community abreast with micro-irrigation practices.