India Country Profile

India is the 7th largest country in the world and the second largest in Asia with a land mass of 3.29 million square Km, and a population of over 900 million. The second largest populous country, India is the home of 16 per cent of world’s population and accounts for 2.42 per cent of the total world area. It possesses a richness and diversity in culture, people, language, geographic and climatic conditions and natural resources that are matched by few other countries in the world.
A new spirit of economic freedom is stirring in India, bringing in sweeping changes in its wake. A series of ambitious economic reforms aimed at deregulating the economy and stimulating foreign investment, has moved India firmly into the front rank of the rapidly growing Asia Pacific region and unleashed the latent strengths of a complex and fast changing nation. India’s time tested institutions offer foreign investors a transparent environment for the safety of, and reasonable return on, their long term investments. These include a free and vibrant press, a judiciary which can and does overrule the Government, a sophisticated legal and accounting system and a user friendly intellectual infrastructure including a large pool of scientific personnel and trained manpower, most evident in the widespread use of English as the principal language of commerce, administration and higher education.

Services have proved India’s most dynamic sector in recent years, registering rapid growth in telecoms and information technology (IT). Services accounted for over 48% of GDP in 2000, including airlines, banks, construction and small-scale private traders, as well as the public sector.

India’s dynamic and highly competitive private sector has long been the backbone of its economic activity. It accounts for over 75 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.) and offers considerable scope for joint ventures and collaborations. Similarly, certain Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) have been functioning effectively and competitively in the present day atmosphere of liberalised economy. India’s process of economic reform is firmly rooted in a political consensus that spans its diverse political parties. Its democracy is a known and stable factor which has taken deep roots over nearly half a century. Importantly, India has no fundamental conflict between its political and economic systems.