Export.gov - India at a Glance

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. $)

GDP – 2.7 trillion (FY 2018-’19)
GDP growth rate – 6.8%
Per Capita income – $1,860 and in terms of purchasing power parity (ppp) - $6,899 (FY 2019-’19)
Foreign Exchange Reserves – $412.9 billion (as on March 31, 2019)
Fiscal Deficit – 3.4% of GDP (per revised estimates for 2018-‘19)
Current Account Deficit (CAD) – -2.1% of GDP (2018-19)
Inflation – 3.4% (average in 2018-‘19)
Unemployment – 6.0% (2017-‘18 est.)
Average rupee exchange rate to a U.S. $ - Rupees 68.42 (2018)
Agriculture and allied sector (% of GDP) – 15.87
Industry (% of GDP) – 29.73
Services, etc., (% of GDP) – 54.4

Population

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 ……

is the world's second largest small car market in the world.
is one of only four countries that makes its own supercomputers (the U.S., Japan and China are the other three).
more than 100 of the Fortune 500 have R & D facilities in India.
has the second largest group of software developers after the U.S.
lists over 3,000 companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange; only the NYSE has more.
is the world's largest producer of milk, and the second largest producer of food, including fruits and vegetables, and among the top five producers of sugar, cotton, tea, coffee, spices, rubber, silk, and fish.
India is the second leading place of origin (196,271 students enrolled in last academic year) among all the international students studying in the U.S. as per Open Doors 2018 report on International Educational Exchange, published annually by IIE with support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world’s third largest by volume of pills produced.
hosts Asia’s largest Annual Global Business Meeting – The India International Trade Fair (New Delhi) grossing over 4 million visitors in 14 days with over 7,500 corporate participants - the largest multi-product expo in Asia.

Print | Last Updated: 7/16/19 7:33 AM