With India committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring clean water availability and sustainable development of water resources (SDG-6) is a national imperative. Governance and Policy is one of the key components of water management and sustainability. In India, as per extant guidelines, a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for groundwater extraction is to be sought from Central Ground Water Authority or concerned state authorities for drinking and domestic use and for Commercial use. Notably, agricultural use, accounting for ~87% of annual groundwater extraction in India, is currently exempt from seeking NOC. Against the NITI Aayog’s target value of 70% annual groundwater withdrawal against net annual availability (Safe category), the national value as per 2024-assessment is 60%. However, there are 10 States/UTs where this value is higher than the target also termed as Over-Exploited, Critical and Semi-Critical (OCS) category. Of the total 6746 assessment units, nearly 25% blocks fall in OCS category. Hence, in the interest of equitable and sustainable groundwater management in the country, the ‘3Fs’ of Governance (Functions, Functionaries, and Finances) need to be strengthened. While a revised “Model Bill” on Water Resource may be brought out for adoption by states for comprehensive water management, constraints like human resource may be overcome by engaging experts of the field and promoting Participatory Groundwater Management, apart from putting in place a business continuity plan for optimum allocation and utilization of financial resources toward Integrated Water Management.