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 millennia 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. Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of 700 years. In the 10th and 11th centuries Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the Delhi Sultanate. In the early 16th century the Emperor BABUR established the Mughal Dynasty which ruled India for more than three centuries. European explorers began establishing footholds in India during the 16th century. By the 19th century Great Britain had become the dominant political power on the subcontinent. The British Indian Army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British rule led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU eventually brought about independence in 1947. Communal violence led to the subcontinent's bloody partition which resulted in the creation of two separate states India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought three wars since independence the last of which in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998 caused Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year. In November 2008 terrorists allegedly originating from Pakistan conducted a series of coordinated attacks in Mumbai India's financial capital. Despite pressing problems such as significant overpopulation environmental degradation extensive poverty and widespread corruption rapid economic development is fueling India's rise on the world stage. In January 2011 India assumed a nonpermanent seat in the UN Security Council for the 2011-12 term.


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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 rare earth elements 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
Volcanism: Barren Island (elev. 354 m 1161 ft) in the Andaman Sea has been active in recent years

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: 1,173,108,018 (July 2010 est.)
Rank: 2
Growth rate: 1.376% (2010 est.)
Growth rate rank: 89
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 the status of subsidiary official language 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: 30.5%
15-64 years: 64.3% (male 384,131,994/female 359,795,835)
65 years and over: 5.2% (male 28,816,115/female 31,670,841) (2010 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age
Total: 25.9 years
Male: 25.4 years
Female: 26.6 years (2010 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.376% (2010 est.)
Rank: 89

Birth rate: 21.34 births/1000 population (2010 est.)
Rank: 85

Death rate: 7.53 deaths/1000 population (July 2010 est.)
Rank: 115

Net migration rate: -0.05 migrant(s)/1000 population (2010 est.)
Rank: 123

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: 1.13 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.91 male(s)/female
Total population: 1.08 male(s)/female (2010 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Total: 49.13 deaths/1000 live births
Rank: 53
Male: 47.7 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 50.73 deaths/1000 live births (2010 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 66.46 years
Rank: 159
Male: 65.46 years
Female: 67.57 years (2010 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.65 children born/woman (2010 est.)
Rank: 81

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 (2006)
Rank: 142

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: 10 years (2007)

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 Christians Hindus and Muslims

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Pratibha Devisingh PATIL ; Vice President Mohammad 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 2009 (next to be held no later than May 2014)
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 members elected by popular vote 2 appointed by the president; members serve five-year terms)
Elections: People's Assembly - last held in five phases on 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; note - seats by party as November 2009 - INC 207 BJP 116 SP 22 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 [MAYAWATI]; Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Nitin GADKARI]; Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen PATNAIK]; Communist Party of India or CPI [B. BARDHAN]; Communist Party of India-Marxist or CPI-M [Prakash KARAT]; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or DMK [Kalaignar M.KARUNANIDHI]; Indian National Congress or INC [Sonia GANDHI]; Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) [Sharad YADAV]; Left Front (an alliance of Indian leftist parties); Nationalist Congress Party or NCP [Sharad PAWAR]; Rashtriya Lok Dal or RLD [Ajit SINGH]; Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV]; Shiromani Akali Dal or SAD [Parkash Singh BADAL]; Shiv Sena or SS [Bal THACKERAY]; Telugu Desam Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU]; 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 CD CERN (observer) CICA CP EAS FAO FATF 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 MONUSCO NAM OAS (observer) OPCW PCA PIF (partner) SAARC SACEP SCO (observer) UN UN Security Council (temporary) UNCTAD UNDOF UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNIFIL UNITAR UNMIS UNMIT UNOCI UNWTO UPU 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 Timothy J. ROEMER
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) Hyderabad; 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; saffron represents courage sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation; white signifies purity and truth; green stands for faith and fertility; the blue chakra symbolizes the wheel of life in movement and death in stagnation
Note: similar to the flag of Niger which has a small orange disk centered in the white band

National symbols

National anthem
Name: 'Jana-Gana-Mana'
Lyricsmusic: Rabindranath TAGORE
Note: adopted 1950; Rabindranath TAGORE a Nobel laureate also wrote Bangladesh's national anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: India is developing into an open-market economy yet traces of its past autarkic policies remain. Economic liberalization including industrial deregulation privatization of state-owned enterprises and reduced controls on foreign trade and investment began in the early 1990s and has served to accelerate the country's growth which has averaged more than 7% per year since 1997. India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming modern agriculture handicrafts a wide range of modern industries and a multitude of services. Slightly more than half of the work force is in agriculture but services are the major source of economic growth accounting for more than half of India's output with only one-third of its labor force. India has capitalized on its large educated English-speaking population to become a major exporter of information technology services and software workers. In 2010 the Indian economy rebounded robustly from the global financial crisis - in large part because of strong domestic demand - and growth exceeded 8% year-on-year in real terms. Merchandise exports which account for about 15% of GDP returned to pre-financial crisis levels. An industrial expansion and high food prices resulting from the combined effects of the weak 2009 monsoon and inefficiencies in the government's food distribution system fueled inflation which peaked at about 11% in the first half fo 2010 but has gradually decreased to single digits following a series of central bank interest rate hikes. New Delhi in 2010 reduced subsidies in fuel and fertilizers sold a small percentage of its shares in some state-owned enterprises and auctioned off rights to radio bandwidth for 3G telecommunications in part to lower the government's deficit. The Indian Government seeks to reduce its deficit to 5.5% of GDP in FY 2010-11 down from 6.8% in the previous fiscal year. India's long term challenges include widespread poverty inadequate physical and social infrastructure limited non-agricultural employment opportunities insufficient access to quality basic and higher education and accommodiating rual-to-urban migration.

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Rank: 5
Note: data are in 2010 US dollars

Real gdp growth rate:
Rank: 7

Real gdp per capita:
Rank: 163
Note: data are in 2010 US dollars

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 16.1%
Industry: 28.6%
Services: 55.3% (2010 est.)

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

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

Industrial production growth rate: 9.7% (2010 est.)
Rank: 17

Labor force: 478.3 million (2010 est.)
Rank: 2
By occupation agriculture: 52%
By occupation industry: 14%
By occupation services: 34% (2009 est.)

Unemployment rate: 10.7% (2009 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

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt: 57.3% of GDP (2009 est.)
Rank: 42

Revenue

Fiscal year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 10.9% (2009 est.)
Rank: 204

Central bank discount rate: 6% (31 December 2008)
Rank: 74

Commercial bank prime lending rate: 13.31% (31 December 2008 est.)
Rank: 59

Stock of narrow money: $268.4 billion (31 December 2009 est)
Rank: 15

Stock of broad money: $1.04 trillion (31 December 2009 est.)
Rank: 14

Stock of domestic credit: $938.8 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Rank: 14

Market value of publicly traded shares:
Rank: 14

Current account balance: -$26.63 billion (2009 est.)
Rank: 181

Exports: $168.2 billion (2009 est.)
Rank: 22
Commodities: petroleum products precious stones machinery iron and steel chemicals vehicles apparel
Partners: UAE 12.87% US 12.59% China 5.59% (2009)

Imports: $274.3 billion (2009 est.)
Rank: 13
Commodities: crude oil precious stones machinery fertilizer iron and steel chemicals
Partners: China 10.94% US 7.16% Saudi Arabia 5.36% UAE 5.18% Australia 5.02% Germany 4.86% Singapore 4.02% (2009)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $274.7 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Rank: 6

Debt external: $221.3 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Rank: 28

Stock of direct foreign investment at home: $157.9 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Rank: 23

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad: $76.62 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
Rank: 26

Exchange rates: Indian rupees (INR) per US dollar - 46.163 (2010) 48.405 (2009) 43.319 (2008) 41.487 (2007) 45.3 (2006)


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Electricity
Production: 723.8 billion kWh (2009 est.)
Production rank: 6
Consumption: 568 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Consumption rank: 6
Exports: 810 million kWh (2009 est.)
Imports: 5.27 billion kWh (2009 est.)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas
Production: 38.65 billion m³ (2009 est.)
Production rank: 22
Consumption: 51.27 billion m³ (2009 est.)
Consumption rank: 16
Exports: 0 m³ (2008 est.)
Exports rank: 169
Imports: 12.62 billion m³ (2009 est.)
Imports rank: 17
Proven reserves: 1.075 trillion m³ (1 January 2010 est.)
Proven reserves rank: 26

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 35.77 million (2010)
Main lines in use rank: 8
Mobile cellular: 670 million (2010)
Mobile cellular rank: 2

Telephone system
General assessment: supported by recent deregulation and liberalization of telecommunications laws and policies India has emerged as one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world; total telephone subscribership base reached 700 million an overall teledensity of 60% and subscribership is currently growing more than 15 million per month; urban teledensity has reached 100% and rural teledensity is about 20% and steadily growing
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 (2010)

Broadcast media: Doordarshan India's public TV network operates about 20 national regional and local services; large number of privately-owned TV stations are distributed by cable and satellite service providers; government controls AM radio with All India Radio operating domestic and external networks; news broadcasts via radio are limited to the All India Radio Network; since 2000 privately-owned FM stations are permitted but limited to broadcasting entertainment and educational content (2007)

Internet
Country code: .in
Hosts: 4.536 million (2010)
Hosts rank: 18
Users: 61.338 million (2009)
Users rank: 6

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures: 2.5% of GDP (2006)
Rank: 62

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation: 17 years 6 months of age for voluntary military service; no conscription; women may join as officers but for noncombat roles only (2010)

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 352 (2010)
Rank: 23
With paved runways total: 249
With paved runways over 3047 m: 21
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 57
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 75
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 81
With paved runways under 914 m: 15 (2010)
With unpaved runways total: 103
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 1
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 3
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 8
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 43
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 48 (2010)

Heliports: 40 (2010)

Pipelines: condensate/gas 2 km; gas 7,542 km; liquid petroleum gas 2,163 km; oil 7,659 km; refined products 7,201 km (2009)

Railways
Total: 64,015 km
Rank: 4
Broad gauge: 52,808 km 1.676-m gauge (18,172 km electrified)
Narrow gauge: 8,473 km 1.000-m gauge; 2,734 km 0.762-m gauge and 0.610-m gauge (2009)

Roadways
Total: 3,320,410 km (2009)
Rank: 3

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: 324
Rank: 29
By type: bulk carrier 94 cargo 78 chemical tanker 23 container 15 liquefied gas 11 passenger 4 passenger/cargo 12 petroleum tanker 87
Foreign owned: 8 (China 1 Hong Kong 1 Jersey 1 Malaysia 1 UAE 4)
Registered in other countries: 56 (Cyprus 2 Dominica 2 Liberia 1 Malta 4 Marshall Islands 8 Nigeria 1 Panama 17 Singapore 19 unknown 2) (2010)

Ports and terminals: Chennai Jawaharal Nehru Kandla Kolkata (Calcutta) Mumbai (Bombay) Sikka 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; 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