India Economy - 2005

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, though two-thirds of the workforce is in agriculture. The UPA government has committed to furthering economic reforms and developing basic infrastructure to improve the lives of the rural poor and boost economic performance. Government controls on foreign trade and investment have been reduced in some areas, but high tariffs (averaging 20% in 2004) and limits on foreign direct investment are still in place. The government has indicated it will do more to liberalize investment in civil aviation, telecom, and insurance sectors in the near term. Privatization of government-owned industries has proceeded slowly, and continues to generate political debate; continued social, political, and economic rigidities hold back needed initiatives. The economy has posted an excellent average growth rate of 6.8% since 1994, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. 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. Despite strong growth, the World Bank and others worry about the combined state and federal budget deficit, running at approximately 9% of GDP. The huge and growing population is the fundamental social, economic, and environmental problem. In late December 2004, a major tsunami took at least 60,000 lives in India, caused massive destruction of property, and severely affected the fishing fleet.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $3.319 trillion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
6.2% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $3,100 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 23.6%
industry: 28.4%
services: 48% (2002 est.)

Labor force:
482.2 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 60%, industry 17%, services 23% (1999)

Unemployment rate:
9.2% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line:
25% (2002 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.5%
highest 10%: 33.5% (1997)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
37.8 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
4.2% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
23.8% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $67.3 billion
expenditures: $104 billion, including capital expenditures of $13.5 billion (2004 est.)

Public debt:
59.7% of GDP (federal debt only; state debt not included) (2004 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:
7.4% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production:
547.2 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption:
510.1 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
350 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
1.54 billion kWh (2002)

Oil - production:
780,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - consumption:
2.13 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Oil - proved reserves:
5.7 billion bbl (2004 est.)

Natural gas - production:
22.75 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
22.75 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
542.4 billion cu m (2004)

Current account balance:
$4.897 billion (2004 est.)

Exports:
$69.18 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities:
textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures

Exports - partners:
US 18.4%, China 7.8%, UAE 6.7%, UK 4.8%, Hong Kong 4.3%, Germany 4% (2004)

Imports:
$89.33 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities:
crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals

Imports - partners:
US 7%, Belgium 6.1%, China 5.9%, Singapore 4.8%, Australia 4.6%, UK 4.6%, Germany 4.5% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$126 billion (2004 est.)

Debt - external:
$117.2 billion (2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$2.9 billion (FY98/99)

Currency (code):
Indian rupee (INR)

Exchange rates:
Indian rupees per US dollar - 45.317 (2004), 46.583 (2003), 48.61 (2002), 47.186 (2001), 44.942 (2000)