Geography

   India

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Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan

20 00 N, 77 00 E

Asia

 
total: 3,287,590 sq km
land: 2,973,190 sq km
water: 314,400 sq km

 
slightly more than one-third the size of the US

total: 14,103 km
border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km

 
7,000 km

 
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin

 
varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

 
upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north

 
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m

 
coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land

 
arable land: 48.83%
permanent crops: 2.8%
other: 48.37% (2005)

 
558,080 sq km (2003)

 
droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes

 
deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources

 
party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

 
dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important Indian Ocean trade routes; Kanchenjunga, third tallest mountain in the world, lies on the border with Nepal

People

   India

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1,129,866,154 (July 2007 est.)

 
0-14 years: 31.8% (male 188,208,196/female 171,356,024)
15-64 years: 63.1% (male 366,977,821/female 346,034,565)
65 years and over: 5.1% (male 27,258,259/female 30,031,289) (2007 est.)

total: 24.8 years
male: 24.5 years
female: 25.2 years (2007 est.)

 
1.606% (2007 est.)

 
22.69 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

6.58 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

-0.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

 
at birth: 1.12 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.098 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.061 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.908 male(s)/female
total population: 1.064 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

total: 34.61 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 39.42 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 29.23 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

 
total population: 68.59 years
male: 66.28 years
female: 71.17 years (2007 est.)

2.81 children born/woman (2007 est.)

degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis are high risks in some locations
animal contact disease: rabies
note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified among birds in this country or surrounding region; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2007)

noun: Indian(s)
adjective: Indian

 
Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)

 
Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)

 
English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language

 
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 59.5%
male: 70.2%
female: 48.3% (2003 est.)

Government

   India

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conventional long form: Republic of India
conventional short form: India
local long form: Republic of India/Bharatiya Ganarajya
local short form: India/Bharat

 
federal republic

name: New Delhi
geographic coordinates: 28 36 N, 77 12 E
time difference: UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

 
28 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Puducherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal

15 August 1947 (from UK)

Republic Day, 26 January (1950)

 
26 January 1950; amended many times

 
based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus

 
18 years of age; universal

 
chief of state: President A.P.J. Abdul KALAM (since 25 July 2002); Vice President Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT (since 19 August 2002)
head of government: Prime Minister Manmohan SINGH (since 22 May 2004)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister
elections: president elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament and the legislatures of the states for a five-year term (no term limits); election last held July 2002 (next to be held 18 July 2007); vice president elected by both houses of Parliament for a five-year term; election last held 12 August 2002 (next to be held August 2007); prime minister chosen by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections; election last held April - May 2004 (next to be held May 2009)
election results: Abdul KALAM elected president; percent of electoral college vote - 89.6%; Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT elected vice president; percent of Parliament vote - 59.8%

bicameral Parliament or Sansad consists of the Council of States or Rajya Sabha (a body consisting of not more than 250 members up to 12 of whom are appointed by the president, the remainder are chosen by the elected members of the state and territorial assemblies; members serve six-year terms) and the People's Assembly or Lok Sabha (545 seats; 543 elected by popular vote, 2 appointed by the president; members serve five-year terms)
elections: People's Assembly - last held 20 April through 10 May 2004 (next must be held before May 2009)
election results: People's Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - INC 147, BJP 129, CPI(M) 43, SP 38, RJD 23, DMK 16, BSP 15, SS 12, BJD 11, CPI 10, NCP 10, JD(U) 8, SAD 8, PMK 6, JMM 5, LJSP 4, MDMK 4, TDP 4, TRS 4, independent 6, other 29, vacant 13; note - party seat composition as of December 2006

 
Supreme Court (one chief justice and 25 associate justices are appointed by the president and remain in office until they reach the age of 65 or are removed for "proved misbehavior")

 
Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [MAYAWATI]; Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Rajnath SINGH]; Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen PATNAIK]; Communist Party of India or CPI [Ardhendu Bhushan BARDHAN]; Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) [Prakash KARAT]; Dravida Munnetra Kazagham or DMK [M. KARUNANIDHI]; Indian National Congress or INC [Sonia GANDHI]; Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) [Sharad YADEV]; Jharkhand Mukti Morcha or JMM [Shibu SOREN]; Lok Jan Shakti Party or LJSP [Ram Vilas PASWAN]; Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or MDMK [VAIKU]; Nationalist Congress Party or NCP [Sharad PAWAR]; Pattali Makkal Katchi or PMK [S. RAMADOSS]; Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Laloo Prasad YADAV]; Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV]; Shiromani Akali Dal or SAD [Prakash Singh BADAL]; Shiv Sena or SS [Bal THACKERAY]; Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS [K. Chandrasekhar RAO]; Telugu Desam Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU]; note - India has dozens of national and regional political parties; only parties with four or more seats in the People's Assembly are listed

numerous religious or militant/chauvinistic organizations, including Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh; various separatist groups seeking greater communal and/or regional autonomy, including the All Parties Hurriyat Conference in the Kashmir Valley and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland in the Northeast

 
AfDB, ARF, AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIMSTEC, BIS, C, CERN (observer), CP, EAS, FAO, G- 6, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IPU, ISO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), ONUB, OPCW, PCA, PIF (partner), SAARC, SACEP, SCO (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNMEE, UNMIS, UNMOVIC, UNOCI, UNOMIG, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

 
chief of mission: Ambassador Ranendra SEN
chancery: 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008; note - Consular Wing located at 2536 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 939-7000
FAX: [1] (202) 265-4351
consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco

 
chief of mission: Ambassador David C. MULFORD
embassy: Shantipath, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [91] (11) 2419-8000
FAX: [91] (11) 2419-0017
consulate(s) general: Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay)

 
three equal horizontal bands of saffron (subdued orange) (top), white, and green with a blue chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band; similar to the flag of Niger, which has a small orange disk centered in the white band

Economy

   India

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India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India's output with less than one third of its labor force. About three-fifths of the work force is in agriculture, leading the UPA government to articulate an economic reform program that includes developing basic infrastructure to improve the lives of the rural poor and boost economic performance. The government has reduced controls on foreign trade and investment. Tariffs averaged 12.5% on non-agricultural items in 2006. Higher limits on foreign direct investment were permitted in a few key sectors, such as telecommunications. However, tariff spikes in sensitive categories, including agriculture, and incremental progress on economic reforms still hinder foreign access to India's vast and growing market. Privatization of government-owned industries remained stalled in 2006, and continues to generate political debate; populist pressure from within the UPA government and from its Left Front allies continues to restrain needed initiatives. The economy has posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since 1996, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006, significantly expanding manufacturing. India is capitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language to become a major exporter of software services and software workers. Economic expansion has helped New Delhi continue to make progress in reducing its federal fiscal deficit. However, strong growth - more than 8 percent growth in each of the last three years - combined with easy consumer credit and a real estate boom is fueling inflation concerns. The huge and growing population is the fundamental social, economic, and environmental problem.

 
$4.042 trillion (2006 est.)

$796.1 billion (2006 est.)

 
8.5% (2006 est.)

 
$3,700 (2006 est.)

agriculture: 19.9%
industry: 19.3%
services: 60.7% (2005 est.)

 
509.3 million (2006 est.)

agriculture: 60%
industry: 12%
services: 28% (2003)

 
7.8% (2006 est.)

25% (2002 est.)

lowest 10%: 3.5%
highest 10%: 33.5% (1997)

 
32.5 (2000)

 
5.3% (2006 est.)

 
29.2% of GDP (2006 est.)

revenues: $109.4 billion
expenditures: $143.8 billion; including capital expenditures of $15 billion (2006 est.)

52.8% of GDP (federal and state debt combined) (2006 est.)

 
rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry; fish

textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software

 
7.5% (2006 est.)

630.6 billion kWh (2004)

 
587.9 billion kWh (2004)

60 million kWh (2004)

1.5 billion kWh (2004)

 
785,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

 
2.45 million bbl/day (2004 est.)

350,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

 
2.09 million bbl/day (2005 est.)

 
5.6 billion bbl (2006 est.)

 
28.2 billion cu m (2004 est.)

 
30.83 billion cu m (2004 est.)

 
0 cu m (2004 est.)

 
2.63 billion cu m (2004 est.)

 
853.5 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

 
$-26.4 billion (2006 est.)

$112 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures

 
US 16.7%, UAE 8.5%, China 6.6%, Singapore 5.3%, UK 4.9%, Hong Kong 4.4% (2005)

 
$187.9 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

 
crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals

 
China 7.3%, US 5.6%, Switzerland 4.7% (2005)

 
$165 billion (2006 est.)

$132.1 billion (30 June 2006 est.)

$2.9 billion (FY98/99)

 
Indian rupee (INR)

 
Indian rupees per US dollar - 45.3 (2006), 44.101 (2005), 45.317 (2004), 46.583 (2003), 48.61 (2002)

 
1 April - 31 March

Communications

   India

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49.75 million (2005)

69.193 million (2006)

 
general assessment: recent deregulation and liberalization of telecommunications laws and policies have prompted rapid growth; local and long distance service provided throughout all regions of the country, with services primarily concentrated in the urban areas; steady improvement is taking place with the recent admission of private and private-public investors, but telephone density remains low at about 10 for each 100 persons nationwide and only 1 per 100 persons in rural areas; there remains a national waiting list of over 1.7 million; fastest growth is in cellular service with modest growth in fixed lines
domestic: expansion of domestic service, although still weak in rural areas, resulted from increased competition and dramatic reductions in price led in large part by wireless service; mobile cellular service (both CDMA and GSM) introduced in 1994 and organized nationwide into four metropolitan cities and 19 telecom circles each with about three private service providers and one state-owned service provider; in recent years significant trunk capacity added in the form of fiber-optic cable and one of the world's largest domestic satellite systems, the Indian National Satellite system (INSAT), with 6 satellites supporting 33,000 very small aperture terminals (VSAT)
international: country code - 91; satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); 9 gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, and Ernakulam; 6 submarine cables, including Sea-Me-We-3 with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay), Sea-Me-We-4 with landing site at Chennai, Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with landing site at Mumbai (Bombay), South Africa - Far East (SAFE) with landing site at Cochin, i2icn linking to Singapore with landing sites at Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras), and Tata Indicom linking Singapore and Chennai (Madras), provide a significant increase in the bandwidth available for both voice and data traffic (2006)

 
AM 153, FM 91, shortwave 68 (1998)

 
562 (1997)

 
.in

1.543 million (2006)

 
60 million (2005)

Transportation

   India

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341 (2006)

 
total: 243
over 3,047 m: 17
2,438 to 3,047 m: 51
1,524 to 2,437 m: 73
914 to 1,523 m: 81
under 914 m: 21 (2006)

 
total: 98
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 7
914 to 1,523 m: 42
under 914 m: 48 (2006)

 
28 (2006)

 
condensate/gas 8 km; gas 5,184 km; liquid petroleum gas 1,993 km; oil 6,500 km; refined products 6,152 km (2006)

 
total: 63,230 km
broad gauge: 45,718 km 1.676-m gauge (16,528 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 14,406 km 1.000-m gauge (165 km electrified); 3,106 km 0.762-m gauge and 0.610-m gauge (2005)

 
total: 3,383,344 km
paved: 1,603,705 km
unpaved: 1,779,639 km (2002)

 
14,500 km
note: 5,200 km on major rivers and 485 km on canals suitable for mechanized vessels (2005)

 
total: 316 ships (1000 GRT or over) 7,772,313 GRT/13,310,858 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 96, cargo 72, chemical tanker 13, container 8, liquefied gas 17, passenger 3, passenger/cargo 10, petroleum tanker 96, roll on/roll off 1
foreign-owned: 10 (China 2, Hong Kong 1, UAE 6, UK 1)
registered in other countries: 46 (Bahamas 1, Comoros 1, Cyprus 5, North Korea 1, Liberia 3, Malta 1, Mauritius 2, Panama 19, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 6, Singapore 5, Venezuela 1, unknown 1) (2006)

 
Chennai, Haldia, Jawaharal Nehru, Kandla, Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), New Mangalore, Vishakhapatnam

Military

   India

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Army, Navy (includes naval air arm), Air Force, Coast Guard, various security or paramilitary forces (includes Border Security Force, Assam Rifles, National Security Guards, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Special Frontier Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Railway Protection Force, and Defense Security Corps)

 
16 years of age for voluntary military service (2001)

 
males age 16-49: 287,551,111
females age 16-49: 268,524,835 (2005 est.)

 
males age 16-49: 219,471,999
females age 16-49: 209,917,553 (2005 est.)

 
males age 18-49: 11,446,452
females age 16-49: 10,665,877 (2005 est.)

 
2.7% (2006 est.)

Transnational Issues

   India

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since China and India launched a security and foreign policy dialogue in 2005, consolidated discussions related to the dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, Indian claims that China transferred missiles to Pakistan, and other matters continue; various talks and confidence-building measures have cautiously begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, particularly since the October 2005 earthquake in the region; Kashmir nevertheless remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas); India and Pakistan have maintained the 2004 cease fire in Kashmir and initiated discussions on defusing the armed stand-off in the Siachen glacier region; Pakistan protests India's fencing the highly militarized Line of Control and construction of the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir, which is part of the larger dispute on water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries; UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani maps continue to show its Junagadh claim in Indian Gujarat State; discussions with Bangladesh remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, to exchange territory for 51 Bangladeshi exclaves in India and 111 Indian exclaves in Bangladesh, to allocate divided villages, and to stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's attempts to fence off high-traffic sections of the border; dispute with Bangladesh over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; India seeks cooperation from Bhutan and Burma to keep Indian Nagaland and Assam separatists from hiding in remote areas along the borders; Joint Border Committee with Nepal continues to examine contested boundary sections, including the 400 square kilometer dispute over the source of the Kalapani River; India maintains a strict border regime to keep out Maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activities from Nepal

 
refugees (country of origin): 77,200 (Tibet/China), 50,730 (Sri Lanka), 9,700 (Afghanistan)
IDPs: at least 600,000 (about half are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2006)