<p>The tide gauges and satellite altimeters, which are the direct sources of sea level measurements, have the limitations of poor data sampling and shorter time span respectively. The sea level reconstructions turn up as a dataset with record length of the tide gauges and near global coverage of satellite altimetry. Using reconstructed sea level data sets of more than 100 years, the present study identifies the role of Southern Annular Mode (SAM) in modulating the Indian Ocean sea level variability, which is not reported before. SAM induces significant positive sea level anomalies (SLAs) in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean and negative SLAs in the southeastern Indian Ocean regions. Analysis reveals that the SAM induced SLA signals in the Indian Ocean are independent from the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) forcing. The role of winds and wind stress curl variations associated with SAM, through modulation in the Hadley circulation, in driving the sea level variability over the Indian Ocean is highlighted. The southeastern Indian Ocean region is characterized by anomalous cyclonic circulation, positive stream function and associated negative wind stress curl during positive SAM, which give rise to the negative SLAs through upwelling and Ekman divergence. The anomalous Ekman transport and Ekman pumping velocity patterns associated with SAM support the negative SLAs in the southeastern Indian Ocean and positive SLAs along eastern equatorial regions. In addition to the SAM induced variability, the sea level reconstructions indicate strong impacts of IOD and ENSO, on the Indian Ocean sea level variability, from 1900s. Significant impact of Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) on the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and southern Indian Ocean sea level is revealed from the long-term reconstruction.</p>