Punjab (/pʌnˈdʒɑːb/(About this sound tune in)) is a state in northern India. Framing some portion of the bigger Punjab district of the Indian subcontinent, the state is circumscribed by the Indian conditions of Jammu and Kashmir toward the north, Himachal Pradesh toward the east, Haryana toward the south and southeast, Rajasthan toward the southwest, and the Pakistani area of Punjab toward the west. The state covers a region of 50,362 square kilometers, 1.53% of India's aggregate land zone. It is the twentieth biggest Indian state by territory. With 27,704,236 occupants at the 2011 statistics, Punjab is the sixteenth biggest state by populace, containing 22 regions. Punjabi is the most broadly talked and official dialect of the state. The primary ethnic gathering are the Punjabis, with Sikhs (57.7%) shaping the statistic dominant part, trailed by Hindus (38.5%). The state capital is Chandigarh, a Union Territory and furthermore the capital of the neighboring province of Haryana. The five streams from which the district took its name were Sutlej, Ravi, Beas, Chenab and Jhelum; Sutlej, Ravi and Beas are a piece of the Indian Punjab.

The Punjab district was home to the Indus Valley Civilization until 1900 BCE. The Punjab was vanquished by Alexander the Great in 330 BCE and was caught by Chandragupta Maurya. The Punjab was home to the Gupta Empire, the realm of the Alchon Huns, the domain of Harsha, and the Mongol Empire. Around 1000, the Punjab was attacked by Muslims and was a piece of the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire. Sikhism began in Punjab and brought about the development of the Sikh Confederacy after the fall of the Mughal Empire. The alliance was joined into the Sikh Empire by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The whole Punjab district was added by the British East India Company from the Sikh Empire in 1849. In 1947, the Punjab Province of British India was partitioned along religious lines into West Punjab and East Punjab. The western part was absorbed into new nation of Pakistan while the east remained in India. The Indian Punjab and PEPSU was separated into three sections based on dialect in 1966. Haryanvi-talking territories (a vernacular of Hindi) were cut out as Haryana, while the bumpy locales and Pahari-talking zones shaped Himachal Pradesh, close by the current territory of Punjab. Punjab's administration has three branches – official, legal and authoritative. Punjab pursues the parliamentary arrangement of government with the Chief Minister as the leader of the state.

Punjab is basically agribusiness based because of the nearness of rich water sources and fruitful soils.[7] Other real businesses incorporate the assembling of logical instruments, horticultural products, electrical merchandise, budgetary administrations, machine apparatuses, materials, sewing machines, sports merchandise, starch, tourism, manures, bikes, pieces of clothing, and the handling of pine oil and sugar. Minerals and vitality assets likewise add to Punjab's economy to a substantially lesser degree. Punjab has the biggest number of steel moving factory plants in India, which are in "Steel Town"— Mandi Gobindgarh in the Fatehgarh Sahib region.

The district was initially called Sapta Sindhu,[8] the Vedic place where there is the seven waterways streaming into the ocean.[9] The Sanskrit name for the locale, as made reference to in the Ramayana and Mahabharata for instance, was Panchanada which signifies "Place where there is the Five Rivers", and was meant Persian as Punjab after the Muslim conquests.[10][11] The word Punjab is a compound of the Persian words panj (five) and āb (waters). Subsequently Panjāb generally signifies "the place where there is five streams". The five streams are the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Jehlum (additionally spelled Jhelum). Generally, in English, there used to be a distinct article before the name, i.e. "The Punjab". The name is likewise now and again spelled as "Panjab".

The Greeks considered Punjab a pentapotamia, an inland delta of five joining rivers;[12] the name Punjab was given to the area by the Central Asian Turkic winners of India, and promoted by the Turco-Mongol Mughals.