<0 0 1> directed good quality potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) single crystal has been grown by Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy (SR) method with the vision to improve the crystalline perfection and efficiency. A seed crystal of diameter 25 x 15 x 3 mm(3) was mounted in the ampoule, where the diameter of the ampoule was much bigger than the seed. The size of the crystal grown was 30 x 20 x 60 mm(3). The obtained transparency for the crystal grown by SR method is 93% and by conventional method is 85% in the entire visible region. The HRXRD analysis indicates that the crystalline perfections of the crystals are excellent without having any very internal structural grain boundaries. The obtained FWHM for conventional method grown crystal is 12 arc s and for SR method is 6 arc s. Low dielectric loss indicates that the <0 01> directed crystal contains minimum defects. Higher mechanical stability was observed in SR method grown KDP compared to the other. Laser damage threshold value has been determined using Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm. The optical transmission study and the powder SHG measurement show the suitability of the ingot for nonlinear optical applications. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.