Background: 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. The dispute between the countries over the state of Kashmir is ongoing but discussions and confidence-building measures have led to decreased tensions since 2002. Despite impressive gains in economic investment and output India faces pressing problems such as significant overpopulation environmental degradation extensive poverty and ethnic and religious strife.

Geographic coordinates: 20 00 N 77 00 E

Map reference: Asia

Area
Total: 3,287,590 km²
Land: 2,973,190 km²
Water: 314,400 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 1,463 km; , China 3,380 km; , Nepal 1,690 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)

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

Population: 1,147,995,904 (July 2008 est.)
Growth rate: 1.578% (2008 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Indian
Adjective: Indian

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

Languages
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)

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

Age structure
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.)

Median age
Total: 25.1 years
Male: 24.7 years
Female: 25.5 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.578% (2008 est.)

Birth rate: 22.22 births/1000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate: 6.4 deaths/1000 population (2008 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.05 migrant(s)/1000 population (2008 est.)

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

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.12 male/female
Under 15 years: 1.1 male/female
15-64 years: 1.06 male/female
65 years and over: 0.9 male/female
Total population: 1.06 male/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 32.31 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 36.94 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 27.12 deaths/1000 live births (2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 69.25 years
Male: 66.87 years
Female: 71.9 years (2008 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.76 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Hivaids
Adult prevalence rate: 0.9% (2001 est.)
People living with hivaids: 5.1 million (2001 est.)
Deaths: 310,000 (2001 est.)

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
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 (2008)

Education expenditures: 3.2% of GDP (2005)

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)

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

Independence: 15 August 1947 (from 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

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Pratibha PATIL (since 25 July 2007); 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 21 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 12 August 2002 (next to be held August 2007); prime minister chosen by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections; election last held April - May 2004 (next to be held May 2009)
Election results: Pratibha PATIL elected president; percent of vote - 65.8%; Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT - 34.2%

Legislative branch
Elections: People's Assembly - last held 20 April through 10 May 2004 (next must be held by May 2009)
Election results: People's Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - INC 147, BJP 129, CPI (M) 43, SP 38, RJD 23, DMK 16, BSP 15, SS 12, BJD 11, CPI 10, NCP 10, JD (U) 8, SAD 8, PMK 6, JMM 5, LJSP 4, MDMK 4, TDP 4, TRS 4, independent 6, other 29, vacant 13; note - seats by party as of December 2006

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: Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [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]; Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or MDMK [V. Gopalswamy VAIKO]; 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]; Telangana Rashtriya Samithi or TRS [K. Chandrashekhar RAO]; Telugu Desam Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU]; United Progressive Alliance or UPA [Sonia GANDHI] (India's ruling party coalition of 12 political parties); 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 members) ARF ASEAN (dialogue partner) BIMSTEC BIS C CERN (observer) CP EAS FAO G-15 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 Ranendra SEN
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 consulates general: Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador David C. MULFORD
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 consulates 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

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. 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.

Real gdp purchasing power parity: $2.966 trillion (2007 est.)

Real gdp growth rate: 9% (2007 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $2,600 (2007 est.)

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 17.8%
Industry: 29.4%
Services: 52.8% (2007 est.)

Agriculture products: rice wheat oilseed cotton jute tea sugarcane potatoes; cattle water buffalo sheep goats poultry; fish

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

Industrial production growth rate: 8.5% (2007 est.)

Labor force: 516.4 million (2007 est.)
By occupation agriculture: 60%
By occupation industry: 12%
By occupation services: 28% (2003)

Unemployment rate: 7.2% (2007 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 3.6%
Highest 10: 31.1% (2004)

Distribution of family income gini index: 36.8 (2004)

Budget
Revenues: $141.2 billion
Expenditures: $172.6 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt: 58.2% of GDP (federal and state debt combined) (2007 est.)

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

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

Commercial bank prime lending rate: 13.02% (31 December 2007)

Stock of domestic credit: $769.3 billion (31 December 2007)

Market value of publicly traded shares: $818.9 billion (2006)

Current account balance: -$12.11 billion (2007 est.)

Exports: $151.3 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Commodities: petroleum products textile goods gems and jewelry engineering goods chemicals leather manufactures
Partners: US 15% China 8.7% UAE 8.7% UK 4.4% (2007)

Imports: $230.5 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)
Commodities: crude oil machinery gems fertilizer chemicals
Partners: China 10.6% US 7.8% Germany 4.4% Singapore 4.4% (2007)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $275 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt external: $149.2 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home: $95.96 billion (2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad: $37.5 billion (2007 est.)

Exchange rates: Indian rupees (INR) per US dollar - 41.487 (2007) 45.3 (2006) 44.101 (2005) 45.317 (2004) 46.583 (2003)

Electricity
Production: 665.3 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Consumption: 517.2 billion kWh (2006 est.)
Exports: 378 million kWh (2006 est.)
Imports: 3.189 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Natural gas
Production: 31.7 billion m³ (2007 est.)
Consumption: 41.7 billion m³ (2007 est.)
Exports: 0 m³ (2007 est.)
Imports: 10 billion m³ (2007 est.)
Proven reserves: 1.075 trillion m³ (1 January 2008 est.)

Telephones
Main lines in use: 38.76 million (2008)
Mobile cellular: 296.08 million (2008)

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 30 for each 100 persons nationwide and much lower for persons in rural areas; 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 about three private service providers and one state-owned service provider; 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)

Internet
Country code: .in
Hosts: 2.707 million (2008)
Users: 80 million (2007)

Military expenditures: 2.5% of GDP (2006)

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

Airports: 346 (2007)
With paved runways total: 250
With paved runways over 3047 m: 18
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 52
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 75
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 84
With paved runways under 914 m: 21 (2007)
With unpaved runways total: 96
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 1
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 1
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 7
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 40
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 47 (2007)

Heliports: 30 (2007)

Pipelines: condensate/gas 9 km; gas 7,488 km; liquid petroleum gas 1861 km; oil 7,883 km; refined products 6,422 km (2007)

Railways
Total: 63,221 km
Broad gauge: 46,807 km 1.676-m gauge (17,343 km electrified)
Narrow gauge: 13,290 km 1.000-m gauge (165 km electrified); 3,124 km 0.762-m gauge and 0.610-m gauge (2006)

Roadways
Total: 3,316,452 km (includes 200 km of expressways) (2006)

Waterways
Note: 5,200 km on major rivers and 485 km on canals suitable for mechanized vessels (2006)

Merchant marine
Total: 501
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

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 country of origin: 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