Salt stressed bael cultivars showed marginal scorch, necrosis and abscission of leaves under both moderate (6.5 dS m⁻¹) and high (10.7 dS m⁻¹) salinity but control plants (1.3 dS m⁻¹) did not exhibit these injury symptoms. While cvs NB-5 and CB-1 showed delayed onset and gradual progression of the stress symptoms, while NB-9 and CB-2 were worst affected and exhibited severe marginal scorch and necrosis in over 70% of the leaves in saline soils. At high salinity, NB-9 and CB-1 plants did not survive. Salt stress significantly (p≤0.05) reduced gas exchange and 6.5 dS m⁻¹ salinity caused 28–32% decline in net photosynthesis and 29–39% reduction in transpiration rate in all cultivars relative to control. Although Na⁺ accumulation significantly increased in salt treated plants, cultivar NB-5 exhibited relatively similar distribution of Na⁺ ions in different plant parts and also maintained higher K⁺ concentrations in aerial parts. In spite of significantly high leaf Na⁺ (0.29%) at 6.5 dS m⁻¹ salinity, cultivar NB-5 did not exhibit severe injury symptoms. Although CB-1 cultivar showed the tendency to retain Na⁺ ions in stem and root tissues, it failed to avoid the injury symptoms. Calcium was acquired in high amounts by salinized NB-5 plants as compared to others. Restricted Na⁺ uptake and preferential K⁺ accumulation seemed to contribute to alleviate the salt stress in cultivar NB-5.