India, Oct. 28 -- The Ganga river basin is highly water stressed and India must act as the basin houses 45 per cent of the country's population, accounts for 44 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 25 per cent of its coal fleet, a new report has warned.

The Ganga is one of Asia's 10 major rivers profiled in the report. The assessment showed that 1.96bn people, $10.3trn worth of GDP as well as 865GW of power assets across these rivers are at risk from escalating climate risks and deepening water stress.

The world's largest and most populous continent thus faces a 'triple threat' to its future - insufficient water for development, the impact of climate change on water resources, and the concentrated risks in river basins. This...