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Carbon stock in different pools viz. trees, ground flora, litter, deadwood and soil was estimated in Panna, Pench and Satpura tiger reserves (TRs) and for comparison in adjoining territorial forests (TFs), Balai and Hingana of Madhya Pradesh, India. Annual carbon sequestration was assessed by the difference of carbon stocks of two consecutive years. Tree density in TRs was higher than TFs and number of trees ha -1 under different girth classes represented good reverse J-shaped curve for TRs where more than 90 percent trees belong to smaller GBH range of 30-120cm. TFs have staggered curve due to unnatural management of forests leading to around 20 percent of trees of GBH>120 cm. The annual carbon sequestration by the trees was found maximum by the trees in Pench, followed by Satpura. Tectona grandis supremely dominated species-wise contribution in the carbon stock of the studied forests, followed by Lannea coromandelica, Lagerstroemia parviflora and Terminalia tomentosa. However, annual carbon sequestration was reported maximum in Flacourtia indica and Bombax ceiba. Carbon in herbaceous and litter pools of protected TRs was observed more than TFs. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) contributed the maximum among all the carbon pools. Pench TR reported maximum SOC (42.84 t ha -1 ), followed by Satpura (40.10 t ha -1 ). The total carbon in all the pools in TRs was recorded greater than TFs and in the order; Pench (79.68 t ha -1 ) >Satpura (73.84 t ha -1 ) >Panna (63.37 t ha -1 ).