The study explored the dependence of the spatio-temporal pattern of rainfall and its variability on the spatial distribution of forests in the central Indian landscape, which covers ~1 million km2, includes five states, and supports a population of 329 million people. The monsoon rainfall is, thus, a crucial source of freshwater for these population. We analyzed the relationship between rainfall and satellite-derived vegetation vigor, vegetation fraction, and elevation across 22 experimental zones across central India (i.e., forested, non-forested, and agricultural regions; buffer zones within and outside forests). Around 87% of annual rainfall is received during the monsoon, with maximum rainfall (~1600 mm) in Odisha and minimum (~900 mm) in Maharashtra. The average rainfall was greater (~1500 mm) inside forests than in non-forested regions (~1000 mm). Moreover, 245 mm km−2 year−1 of rainfall was observed over forests during monsoon, but only 215 mm km−2 year−1 in non-forested areas. Overall, rainfall increases from the forest edge towards the forest core logarithmically at a rate of ~10 mm km−1 year−1, and it decreases exponentially when moving away from the forest edge at an average rate of −20 mm km−1 year−1 over 0-to-50 km range, and at a rate of −7.5 mm km−1 year−1 over the 50-to-100 km range. This rate of decrease was maximum in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand and minimum in Chhattisgarh. The results confirmed the crucial role of forests in the distribution of monsoon rainfall, but in the elevated and Western Ghats regions, the orographic effect is dominant. These findings are of great concern to forest policymakers to conserve and protect the central Indian forests.