A field experiment was conducted during kharif 2019-20 and 2020-21 to evaluate the impact of integrated crop management (ICM) practices on crop growth, yields, nutrient uptake pattern, water productivity, and profitability of rice under rice-wheat rotation (RWR): integrated crop management, i.e., ICM1&2-conventional transplanted (CT) rice, ICM3&4-conventional direct-seeded rice (DSR) without residues, ICM5&6-conservation agriculture (CA)-based zero-tilled (ZT) DSR with retained wheat residues, and ICM7&8-CA-based ZT-DSR with retained wheat and mungbean residues. The CA-based ICM7-8 had greater growth parameters and yield attributes compared to CT-based ICM1-4. Similarly, irrespective of the years, ICM7&8 results in 4.6-13.8% greater grain yield than the ICM1-2. In addition, the protein yield under ICM7 and ICM8 was enhanced by 10.0-34.0% and 13.6-33.4% over the ICM1-6. The grain and straw nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) content remain similar across the treatments and years. Nevertheless, ICM7&8 had the highest grain, straw, and total N, P, and K uptake in both the years. The total water used under ICM1&2 was 15.2-16.4% greater compared to ICM3-8, while the total and irrigation water productivity under CA-based ICM7-8 was enhanced to the tune of 13.7-27.0 and 26.1-35.1% compared to ICM1&2. Subsequently, CA-based ICM7-8 reduced the production costs by 10.9-12.4% over ICM1-2 while the net return was increased by 22.1-41.3% compared to ICM1-6. Thus, CA-based zero-tilled direct-seeded rice with residue retention can be propounded as a resource saving sustainable rice production under semi-arid region and similar ecologies.