Map of India | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: The Indus Valley civilization one of the world's oldest flourished during the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. and extended into northwestern India. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science art and culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkic in the 12th were followed by those of European traders beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Indian armed forces in the British army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU brought independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons testing in 1998 caused Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year. Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output India faces pressing problems such as significant overpopulation environmental degradation extensive poverty and widespread corruption.


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

Geographic coordinates: 20 00 N 77 00 E

Map reference: Asia

Area
Total: 3,287,263 km²
Rank: 7
Land: 2,973,193 km²
Water: 314,070 km²
Comparative: slightly more than one-third the size of the US

Land boundaries
Total: 14,103 km
Border countries: (6) Bangladesh 4,053 km; Bhutan 605 km; Burma 1463 km; China 3,380 km; Nepal 1690 km; Pakistan 2,912 km

Coastline: 7,000 km

Maritime claims
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

Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

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

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

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

Land use
Arable land: 48.83%
Permanent crops: 2.8%
Other: 48.37% (2005)

Irrigated land: 558,080 km² (2003)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources: 1907.8 km³ (1999)

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

Geography
Note: 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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Population: 1,166,079,217 (July 2009 est.)
Rank: 2
Growth rate: 1.548% (2009 est.)
Growth rate rank: 84
Below poverty line: 25% (2007 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Indian
Adjective: Indian

Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72% Dravidian 25% Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)

Languages: 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 most widely spoken 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)

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

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 31.1%
15-64 years: 63.6% (male 381,446,079/female 359,802,209)
65 years and over: 5.3% (male 29,364,920/female 32,591,030) (2009 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age
Total: 25.3 years
Male: 24.9 years
Female: 25.8 years (2009 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.548% (2009 est.)
Rank: 84

Birth rate: 21.76 births/1000 population (2009 est.)
Rank: 87

Death rate: 6.23 deaths/1000 population (July 2009 est.)
Rank: 154

Net migration rate: -0.05 migrant(s)/1000 population (2009 est.)
Rank: 87

Population distribution

Urbanization
Urban population: 29% of total population
Rate of urbanization: 2.4% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: 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
International agreements 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
International agreements signed but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.12 male/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 (2009 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Total: 30.15 deaths/1000 live births
Rank: 73
Male: 34.61 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 25.17 deaths/1000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 69.89 years
Rank: 145
Male: 67.46 years
Female: 72.61 years (2009 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.72 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Rank: 83

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.3% (2007 est.)
Adult prevalence rate rank: 89
People living with hivaids: 2.4 million (2007 est.)
People living with hivaids rank: 4
Deaths: 310,000 (2001 est.)
Deaths rank: 2

Major infectious diseases
Degree of risk: high
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea hepatitis A and E and typhoid fever
Vectorborne diseases: chikungunya dengue fever Japanese encephalitis and malaria
Animal contact disease: rabies
Water contact disease: leptospirosis
Note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures: 3.2% of GDP (2005)
Rank: 140

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 61%
Male: 73.4%
Female: 47.8% (2001 census)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Total: 10 years
Male: 11 years
Female: 9 years (2005)

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of India
Conventional short form: India
Local long form: Republic of India/Bharatiya Ganarajya
Local short form: India/Bharat

Government type: federal republic

Capital
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)

Administrative divisions: 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

Dependent areas

Independence: 15 August 1947 (from the UK)

National holiday: Republic Day 26 January (1950)

Constitution: 26 January 1950; amended many times

Legal system: 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

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Pratibha PATIL ; Vice President Hamid ANSARI (since 11 August 2007)
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 in July 2007 (next to be held in July 2012); vice president elected by both houses of Parliament for a five-year term; election last held in August 2007 (next to be held August 2012); prime minister chosen by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections; election last held April - May 2004 (next to be held no later than May 2009)
Election results: Pratibha PATIL elected president; percent of vote - Pratibha PATIL 65.8% Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT - 34.2%

Legislative branch: 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 in five phases 16 22-23 30 April and 7 13 May 2009 (next must be held by May 2014)
Election results: People's Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - INC 206 BJP 116 SP 23 BSP 21 JD (U) 20 AITC 19 DMK 18 CPI-M 16 BJD 14 SS 11 AIADMK 9 NCP 9 other 61 vacant 2

Judicial branch: 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')

Political parties and leaders: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or AIADMK [J. JAYALALITHAA]; All India Trinamool Congress or AITC [Mamata BANERJEE]; Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [Kumari 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 YADAV]; Jharkhand Mukti Morcha or JMM [Shibu SOREN]; Left Front (an alliance of Indian leftist parties); Lok Jan Shakti Party or LJSP [Ram Vilas PASWAN]; 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 [Parkash Singh BADAL]; Shiv Sena or SS [Bal THACKERAY]; note - India has dozens of national and regional political parties; only parties or coalitions with four or more seats in the People's Assembly are listed

International organization participation: ADB AfDB (nonregional member) ARF ASEAN (dialogue partner) BIMSTEC BIS C CERN (observer) CP EAS FAO G-15 G-20 G-24 G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO IMSO Interpol IOC IOM IPU ISO ITSO ITU ITUC LAS (observer) MIGA MONUC NAM OAS (observer) OPCW PCA PIF (partner) SAARC SACEP SCO (observer) UN UNCTAD UNDOF UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNIFIL UNITAR UNMIS UNMIT UNOCI UNWTO UPU WCL WCO WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Meera SHANKAR
In the us chancery: 2,107 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington DC 20,008; note - Consular Wing located at 2,536 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington DC 20,008
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 939-7,000
In the us fax: [1] (202) 265-4,351
In the us consulate general: Chicago Houston New York San Francisco
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador ; Charge d'Affaires A. Peter BURLEIGH
From the us embassy: Shantipath Chanakyapuri New Delhi 110,021
From the us mailing address: use embassy street address
From the us telephone: [91] (011) 2,419-8,000
From the us fax: [91] (11) 2,419-0017
From the us consulate general: Chennai (Madras) Kolkata (Calcutta) Mumbai (Bombay)

Flag description: 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

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: 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. Slightly more than half of the work force is in agriculture leading the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to articulate a rural economic development program that includes creating 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 had restrained 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 9.6% GDP growth in 2006 9.0% in 2007 and 6.6% in 2008 significantly expanding manufactures through late 2008. India also 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. Strong growth combined with easy consumer credit a real estate boom and fast-rising commodity prices fueled inflation concerns from mid-2006 to August 2008. Rising tax revenues from better tax administration and economic expansion helped New Delhi make progress in reducing its fiscal deficit for three straight years before skyrocketing global commodity prices more than doubled the cost of government energy and fertilizer subsidies. The ballooning subsidies amidst slowing growth brought the return of a large fiscal deficit in 2008. In the long run the huge and growing population is the fundamental social economic and environmental problem.

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Rank: 5
Note: data are in 2008 US dollars

Real gdp growth rate:
Rank: 29

Real gdp per capita:
Rank: 167
Note: data are in 2008 US dollars

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 17.6%
Industry: 29%
Services: 53.4% (2008 est.)

Agriculture products: rice wheat oilseed cotton jute tea sugarcane potatoes; onions dairy products sheep goats poultry; fish

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

Industrial production growth rate: 4.8% (2008 est.)
Rank: 51

Labor force: 523.5 million (2008 est.)
Rank: 2
By occupation agriculture: 60%
By occupation industry: 12%
By occupation services: 28% (2003)

Unemployment rate: 7.2% (2007 est.)
Rank: 118

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 25% (2007 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 3.6%
Highest 10: 31.1% (2005)

Distribution of family income gini index: 37.8 (1997)
Rank: 79

Budget
Revenues: $126.7 billion
Expenditures: $202.6 billion (2008 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt: 59.7% of GDP (2004 est.)
Rank: 30

Revenue

Fiscal year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 6.4% (2007 est.)
Rank: 129

Central bank discount rate: 6% (31 December 2007)
Rank: 74

Commercial bank prime lending rate: 13.31% (31 December 2008)

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit:

Market value of publicly traded shares:
Rank: 9

Current account balance: -$10.88 billion (2007 est.)
Rank: 182

Exports: $150.7 billion (2007 est.)
Rank: 25
Commodities: petroleum products textile goods gems and jewelry engineering goods chemicals leather manufactures
Partners: US 12.3% UAE 9.4% China 9.3% (2008)

Imports: $231.6 billion (2007 est.)
Rank: 15
Commodities: crude oil machinery gems fertilizer chemicals
Partners: China 11.1% Saudi Arabia 7.5% US 6.6% UAE 5.1% Iran 4.2% Singapore 4.2% Germany 4.2% (2008)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $273.9 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Rank: 5

Debt external: $206 billion (31 December 2007)
Rank: 29

Stock of direct foreign investment at home: $103.1 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Rank: 23

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad: $38.82 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Rank: 30

Exchange rates: Indian rupees (INR) per US dollar - 43.319 (2008 est.) 41.487 (2007) 45.3 (2006) 44.101 (2005) 45.317 (2004)


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Electricity
Production: 761.7 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Production rank: 6
Consumption: 568 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Consumption rank: 6
Exports: 216 million kWh (2007 est.)
Imports: 4.96 billion kWh (2007 est.)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas
Production: 32.2 billion m³ (2008 est.)
Production rank: 26
Consumption: 42.99 billion m³ (2008 est.)
Consumption rank: 19
Exports: 0 m³ (2008)
Exports rank: 65
Imports: 10.79 billion m³ (2008 est.)
Imports rank: 22
Proven reserves: 1.075 trillion m³ (1 January 2009 est.)
Proven reserves rank: 25

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 37.54 million (2009)
Main lines in use rank: 7
Mobile cellular: 427.3 million (2009)
Mobile cellular rank: 2

Telephone system
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 combined fixed and mobile telephone density remains low at about 40 for each 100 persons nationwide and much lower for persons in rural areas; extremely rapid growth in cellular service with modest declines in fixed lines
Domestic: mobile cellular service introduced in 1994 and organized nationwide into four metropolitan areas and 19 telecom circles each with multiple private service providers and one or more state-owned service providers; 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; a number of major international submarine cable systems including Sea-Me-We-3 with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay) Sea-Me-We-4 with a landing site at Chennai Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with a landing site at Mumbai (Bombay) South Africa - Far East (SAFE) with a landing site at Cochin the i2i cable network 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; 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 (2008)

Broadcast media

Internet
Country code: .in
Hosts: 3.611 million (2009)
Hosts rank: 22
Users: 81 million (2008)
Users rank: 4

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures: 2.5% of GDP (2006)
Rank: 66

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation: 16 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription; women officers allowed in noncombat roles only (2008)

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 349 (2009)
Rank: 23
With paved runways total: 250
With paved runways over 3047 m: 20
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 56
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 76
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 84
With paved runways under 914 m: 14 (2009)
With unpaved runways total: 99
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 2
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 8
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 42
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 47 (2009)

Heliports: 37 (2009)

Pipelines: condensate/gas 2 km; gas 6,061 km; liquid petroleum gas 2,156 km; oil 7,678 km; refined products 6,876 km (2008)

Railways
Total: 63,327 km
Rank: 4
Broad gauge: 49,820 km 1.676-m gauge (17,786 km electrified)
Narrow gauge: 10,621 km 1.000-m gauge (135 km electrified); 2,886 km 0.762-m gauge and 0.610-m gauge (2007)

Roadways
Total: 3,316,452 km (2006)
Rank: 2

Waterways: 14,500 km
Rank: 9
Note: 5,200 km on major rivers and 485 km on canals suitable for mechanized vessels (2008)

Merchant marine
Total: 501
Rank: 23
By type: bulk carrier 102 cargo 241 carrier 1 chemical tanker 19 container 13 liquefied gas 18 passenger 3 passenger/cargo 11 petroleum tanker 92 roll on/roll off 1
Foreign owned: 12 (China 1 Germany 2 Hong Kong 1 UAE 6 UK 2)
Registered in other countries: 61 (Barbados 1 Comoros 2 Cyprus 2 Dominica 2 Liberia 2 Malta 2 Marshall Islands 1 Panama 27 Saint Kitts and Nevis 1 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 7 Singapore 13 unknown 1) (2008)

Ports and terminals: Chennai Haldia Jawaharal Nehru Kandla Kolkata (Calcutta) Mormugao Mumbai (Bombay) New Mangalore Vishakhapatnam


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Disputes international: 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 and internally displaced persons
Refugees: 77,200 (Tibet/China); 69,609 (Sri Lanka); 9,472 (Afghanistan)
Idps: at least 600,000 (about half are Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and Kashmir) (2007)

Illicit drugs: world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets; transit point for illicit narcotics produced in neighboring countries and throughout Southwest Asia; illicit producer of methaqualone; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through the hawala system; licit ketamine and precursor production