How to draw the flag of India

The flag of India is a horizontal tricolour of saffron, white and green, with the navy blue Ashoka Chakra — a 24-spoked wheel — at its centre. Below is how to construct it step by step, with the measurements written as fractions so they work at any size — on paper, on a whiteboard or in an art program. If you would rather test yourself first, you can draw it from memory and get scored.

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Step by step

  1. Start with a rectangle in the proportions 3:2. If you are working on paper, 15 cm wide by 10 cm tall is a convenient size — every measurement below is given as a fraction, so any size works as long as the shape is right.
  2. Divide the height into three equal horizontal bands, each a third of the height. Working from the top down, colour them saffron, white and green (saffron #ff9933, white #ffffff and green #138808).
  3. Draw a navy blue ring, outer radius 16% of the height, inner radius 12%.
  4. Draw a navy blue circle with a radius of 3% of the height (a diameter of 6%), centred in the middle of the flag.

The colours

These are the shades used in the reference drawing. Official specifications are usually given in Pantone; the hex values below are the closest common screen equivalents.

The mistakes people make

Test yourself

Reading how a flag is built and being able to reproduce it from memory are different skills, and the gap between them is bigger than most people expect. Draw the flag of India from memory and the game will score how close you got, or try today's flag if you want to be surprised.

Other flags to draw