Rising in the western ghats to the east of Mumbai, the Bhima River is one of the major confluents of the Krishna River. The river rises from the Bhimashankar hills near Karjat on the western side of the Western Ghats at an altitude of about 945 m above the sea level. It is known as Sahyadri in Maharashtra. The Bhima River flows in the southeast direction for seven hundred and twenty five kilometers covering the states of Maharastra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

In the course of the journey it meets many small rivers. The major tributaries of this river around Pune are Kundali River, Ghod River, Bhama River, Indrayani River, Mula River, Mutha River and Pawana River. The Indrayani, Mula, Mutha and Pawana flow through Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad city. The major tributaries of Bhima in Solapur are Chandani, Kamini, Moshi, Bori, Sina, Man, Bhogwati and Nira. The Bhima meets the Nira River in Narsinghpur in Malshiras taluka in Solapur district. The last 298 km of its course is in Karnataka where it merges with the Krishna River near Kudlu in Raichur District.

The total basin area of the river is 48,631 square kilometers out of which seventy five percent lie in the state of Maharastra. The banks of the Bhima River are densely populated and form a fertile agricultural land. The river also causes floods due to heavy rainfall it receives during the monsoon.