The Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests in Western and Southern India, containing large protected areas of natural tiger habitat.

Majority of the geology of the region is of Basaltic rocks which harbor a very different drainage pattern and different forest cover with an average mature tree height of over 10 metres (33 ft), while the granitoid region that is primarily affluent across Telangana and parts of Karnataka covers scrub jungle with an average tree height of around 5 metres (16 ft).

The xeric Deccan thorn scrub forests lie to the west, south, and southeast, covering the drier portions of the plateau in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats.

This is a highly populated area and most of the natural forest in the ecoregion has been cleared for firewood or grazing land or as a result of river damming, all of which are ongoing.

The 300 species of birds include the globally threatened Jerdon's courser (Rhinoptilus bitorquatus), which was rediscovered in 1986 having been thought extinct for nearly a hundred years.