The standard groundwater model programme (SGMP) version 2.7 was run in inverse mode to determine the nodal net recharges over the study period. The results of Z test conducted to test the difference between nodal net recharges prescribed during Modflow run and those simulated through inverse modeling revealed that at 5 per cent level of significance, the difference was not significant. The conclusions of the study were: Modflow was more sensitive to variations in specific yield than to changes in hydraulic conductivity during model calibration; surface water model resulted in optimum net returns at 25 per cent risk level of net irrigation requirement ; inverse modeling technique using groundwater balance approach to assess the net recharge to an aquifer system can be helpful in arriving at nodal net recharges to be prescribed during Modflow run, particularly in those areas where the norms for estimating groundwater recharge are not available or where the basic data is imprecise.