The Chital occurs over 8–30ºN in India (including Sikkim), Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka (Grubb 2005; Raman in press). The western distribution boundary is formed by eastern Rajasthan (e.g. Sariska, Ranthambore, and Keoladeo Ghana) and Gujarat (e.g. Sasan Gir). The northern boundary runs along the bhabar-terai belt of the foothills of the Himalaya from Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal through Nepal, northern West Bengal and Sikkim to western Assam and the forested valleys of Bhutan below 1,100 m asl. The eastern boundary runs through western Assam (Golapara and Kamrup district as far east as the Dhunsiri River in Darrang district) to the Sunderbans of West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka is the southern limit (Gee 1964; Schaller 1967; Raman in press). Chital occur throughout the rest of peninsular India sporadically in the forested areas (Sankar and Acharya 2004), but in Bangladesh, it now occurs only in the Sundarbans, having vanished from the central, north-east and south-east regions (Md Anwarul Islam in litt. 2008).

Chital have been introduced to the Andaman Islands (India, during 1925–1930; Banerji 1955), Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Croatia (islands of Brijuni; Mitchell-Jones et al. 1999), Moldova, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Ukraine, Uruguay, and the USA (California, Florida, Hawaiian Islands, and Texas) (Grubb 2005; Raman in press). These introduced populations have not been mapped. Not all introductions have succeeded: for example, some were introduced to west-central Slovenia (from the Brijuni islands) in the late 1940s or in 1950, but this introduction failed and is now therefore frequently reported as having been of Fallow Deer Dama dama. One male, shot on 12 October 1950 and now in the Natural History Museum of Slovenia, proves the identification (Krystufek 1999). Managed herds occur in parks throughout the native and introduced range and in many other areas.