In the present study, infiltration characteristics of 15 sites from Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan lying in hot arid region of India was measured using double-ring infiltrometer. Horton model and Green & Ampt model performed comparatively better than Philip model to fit the measured data on infiltration rate versus time. Across different land uses, measured infiltration rates were found 2.26 cm h−1, 17.4 cm h−1, 18.27 cm h−1, 20.7 cm h−1, 35.22 cm h−1, 44.44 cm h−1, 47.7 cm h−1, and 73.02 cm h−1, respectively, for runoff farming system, forestry plantation on rocky outcrops, rainfed agricultural land, rocky scrubs, rangelands, fallow land, forestry plantation on sandy soils, and sand dunes. Percent deviation of modeled steady-state infiltration rate from their measured values was 2%, 8% and 38%, respectively for Green & Ampt, Horton and Philips model. Further, regression-based models were developed to estimate infiltration parameters of the standard models of infiltration using sand, silt, clay, organic carbon and gravel content of soil layers. From the present study it was observed that infiltration rate largely varies across the sites representing different soil types and land use conditions of hot arid region of India. The knowledge on infiltration generated in this study may help in sustainable water management in watersheds by modeling rainfall runoff behavior. Since it is time consuming and tedious to measure infiltration characteristics in field, the developed regression models in this study may also be used to estimate infiltration characteristics in watershed lying within hot arid region of India.