India at a Glance
Official Name: Republic of India
Government type: Federal Republic
Geography
Location: South Asia bordering the Arabian Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east. India shares land boundaries with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, Nepal, and Pakistan
Area: 3,287,263 sq km
Currency: Indian Rupee (Rs.)
Capital City: New Delhi
Financial Center: Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay)
GDP Growth: 6.8% during FY 2018-’19 (est.)
ECONOMY 2018-‘19 (in U.S. $)
Total: 1.327 billion (2018 est.)
Age Structure: 2018: 0-14 yrs.: 27.9%; 15-64 yrs.: 66.2%; 65+ yrs.: 5.9%
Rural population (approx. % of total): 66.5 (2017)
Urban population (approx. % of total): 33.5 (2017)
Literacy rate: 69.1 % (2014)
Independence: 15 August 1947 (from the U.K.)
Financial Year: April 1 to March 31
Work Week: Monday to Friday. Many offices work half a day on Saturdays. Central Government offices are closed on Saturdays.
Legal System: Based on English common law; limited judicial review of legislative acts;
Religions: Hinduism 79.8%; Muslim 14.2%; Christianity 2.3%; Sikh 1.7%; Buddhist 0.7%; Jain 0.4%; other 0.7%; and unspecified 0.2%
Languages: English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communications. The major official language of the Indian Union is Hindi, which is the primary tongue of 30% of the people. Besides Hindi, other prominent regional languages include: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. 700 dialects are also spoken. English has become a sort of "lingua franca" and is the accepted language for business and government.
Administrative divisions: 29 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chattisgarh, 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* (formerly Pondicherry), Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Did you know that India ……
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