Most of the deaths have taken place in the southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where at least 1,118 people have died since last week, according to the BBC.
"The state government has taken up education programmes through television and other media to tell people not to venture into the outside without a cap, to drink water and other measures," news agency AFP quoted P Tulsi Rani, special commissioner for disaster management in the state, as saying.
"We have also requested NGOs and government organisations to open up drinking water camps so that water will be readily available for all the people in the towns," he added.
Hospitals are on alert to treat heatstroke patients and authorities have advised people to stay indoors.
The Hindustan Times Daily reported the maximum temperature in the capital hit a two-year high of 45.5 on Monday. The paper carried a front-page photo of a main road in the city melting in the heat, its zebra crossing stripes curling and bleeding across the asphalt.
