Decadal glacier thickness changes over the Upper Indus Basin in the Jammu and Kashmir Himalaya were estimated using the TanDEM-X and SRTM-C Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from 2000 to 2012. In the study area 12,243 glaciers having 19,727 ± 1,054 km2 area have thinned on an average of - 0.35 ± 0.33 m a-1 during the observation period. The highest thinning of - 1.69 ± 0.60 m a-1 was observed in the Pir Panjal while as the marginal thinning of - 0.11 ± 0.32 m a-1 was observed for the glaciers in the Karakoram. The observed glacier thickness changes indicated a strong influence of the topographic parameters. Higher thickness reduction was observed on the glaciers situated at lower altitudes (- 1.40 ± 0.53 m a-1) and with shallower slopes (- 1.52 ± 0.40 m a-1). Significantly higher negative thickness changes were observed from the glaciers situated on the southern slopes (- 0.55 ± 0.37 m a-1). The thickness loss was higher on the debris-covered glaciers (- 0.50 ± 0.38 m a-1) than on the clean glaciers (- 0.32 ± 0.33 m a-1). The cumulative glacier mass loss of - 70.32 ± 66.69 Gt was observed during the observation period, which, if continued, would significantly affect the sustainability of water resources in the basin.