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Geography
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Dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important
Indian Ocean trade routes; Kanchenjunga, third tallest mountain in the
world, lies on the border with Nepal.
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Location:
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Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay
of Bengal, between Burma
and Pakistan
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Area:
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total: 3,287,590 sq km
land: 2,973,190 sq km
water: 314,400 sq km
Size comparison: slightly more than
one-third the size of the US
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Land Boundaries:
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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
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Coastline:
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7,000 km
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Land use:
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arable land: 48.83%
permanent crops: 2.8%
other: 48.37% (2005)
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Irrigated land:
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558,080 sq km (2003)
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People
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Population:
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1,147,995,904 (July 2008 est.)
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Age structure:
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0-14 years: 31.5% (male 189,238,487/female
172,168,306)
15-64 years: 63.3% (male 374,157,581/female 352,868,003)
65 years and over: 5.2% (male 28,285,796/female 31,277,725) (2008 est.)
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Median age:
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total: 25.1 years
male: 24.7 years
female: 25.5 years (2008 est.)
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Population growth rate:
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1.578% (2008 est.)
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Birth rate:
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22.22 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
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Death rate:
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6.4 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
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Net migration rate:
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-0.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)
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Sex ratio:
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at birth: 1.12 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.1 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.9 male(s)/female
total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
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0.9% (2001 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
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5.1 million (2001 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
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310,000 (2001 est.)
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Religions:
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Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%,
other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)
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Languages:
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Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%,
Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya
3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9% note:
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 41% 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 (2001 census)
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Government
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Country name:
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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
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Government type:
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federal republic
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Capital:
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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)
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Administrative divisions:
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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
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Independence:
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15 August 1947 (from UK)
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National holiday:
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Republic Day, 26 January (1950)
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Constitution:
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26 January 1950; amended many times
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Legal system:
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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
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Suffrage:
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18 years of age; universal
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Economy
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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 United Progressive Alliance (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.
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 remains stalled 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 1997, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage
points. India
achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006, and again in 2007, significantly
expanding production of manufactures. 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 combined with easy
consumer credit and a real estate boom fueled inflation concerns in 2006
and 2007, leading to a series of central bank interest rate hikes that
have slowed credit growth and eased inflation concerns. The huge and
growing population is the fundamental social, economic, and environmental
problem.
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GDP (purchasing power parity):
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$2.966 trillion (2007 est.)
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GDP (official exchange rate):
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$1.099 trillion (2007 est.)
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GDP - real growth rate:
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9% (2007 est.)
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GDP - per capita (PPP):
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$2,600 (2007 est.)
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GDP - composition by sector:
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agriculture: 17.8%
industry: 29.4%
services: 52.8% (2007 est.)
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Labor force:
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516.4 million (2007 est.)
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Labor force - by occupation:
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agriculture: 60%
industry: 12%
services: 28% (2003)
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Unemployment rate:
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7.2% (2007 est.)
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Population below poverty line:
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25% (2007 est.)
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Household income or consumption by percentage
share:
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lowest 10%: 3.6%
highest 10%: 31.1% (2004)
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Distribution of family income - Gini index:
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36.8 (2004)
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Inflation rate (consumer prices):
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6.4% (2007 est.)
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Investment (gross fixed):
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33.9% of GDP (2007 est.)
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Budget:
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revenues: $141.2 billion
expenditures: $172.6 billion (2007 est.)
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Public debt:
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58.2% of GDP (federal and state debt combined) (2007
est.)
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Agriculture - products:
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rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane,
potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry; fish
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Industries:
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textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel,
transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software
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Industrial production growth rate:
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8.5% (2007 est.)
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Electricity - production:
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665.3 billion kWh (2007 est.)
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Electricity - consumption:
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517.2 billion kWh (2006 est.)
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Electricity - exports:
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378 million kWh (2006 est.)
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Electricity - imports:
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3.189 billion kWh (2006 est.)
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Oil - production:
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880,500 bbl/day (2007 est.)
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Oil - consumption:
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2.722 million bbl/day (2007 est.)
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Oil - exports:
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450,700 bbl/day (2005 est.)
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Oil - imports:
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2.159 million bbl/day (2005 est.)
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Oil - proved reserves:
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5.625 billion bbl (1 January 2008 est.)
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Natural gas - production:
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31.7 billion cu m (2007 est.)
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Natural gas - consumption:
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41.7 billion cu m (2007 est.)
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Natural gas - exports:
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0 cu m (2007 est.)
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Natural gas - imports:
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10 billion cu m (2007 est.)
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Natural gas - proved reserves:
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1.075 trillion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)
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Current account balance:
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-$12.11 billion (2007 est.)
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Exports:
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$151.3 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
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Exports - commodities:
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petroleum products, textile goods, gems and jewelry,
engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures
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Exports - partners:
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US 15%, China
8.7%, UAE 8.7%, UK
4.4% (2007)
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Imports:
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$230.5 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
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Imports - commodities:
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crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals
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Imports - partners:
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China
10.6%, US 7.8%, Germany 4.4%, Singapore 4.4% (2007)
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Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
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$275 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
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Debt - external:
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$149.2 billion (31 December 2007)
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Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
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$95.96 billion (2007 est.)
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Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
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$37.5 billion (2007 est.)
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Market value of publicly traded shares:
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$818.9 billion (2006)
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Currency (code):
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Indian rupee (INR)
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Exchange rates:
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Indian rupees (INR) per US dollar - 41.487 (2007),
45.3 (2006), 44.101 (2005), 45.317 (2004), 46.583 (2003)
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Fiscal year:
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1 April - 31 March
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