India Economy 2008

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 is fueling inflation concerns. The huge and growing population is the fundamental social, economic, and environmental problem.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$2.965 trillion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$894.1 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
8.5% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$2,700 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 16.6%
industry: 28.4%
services: 55% (2007 est.)

Labor force:
516.4 million (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 60%
industry: 12%
services: 28% (2003)

Unemployment rate:
7.2% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:
25% (2002 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)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5.9% (2007 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
31.8% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $145.2 billion
expenditures: $182.4 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt:
58.8% of GDP (federal and state debt combined) (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:
10% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production:
661.6 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - consumption:
488.5 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - exports:
67 million kWh (2005)

Electricity - imports:
1.764 billion kWh (2005)

Oil - production:
834,600 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - consumption:
2.438 million bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - exports:
350,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - imports:
2.098 million bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - proved reserves:
5.848 billion bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

natural gas - production:
28.68 billion cu m (2005 est.)

natural gas - consumption:
34.47 billion cu m (2005 est.)

natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2005 est.)

natural gas - imports:
5.793 billion cu m (2005)

natural gas - proved reserves:
1.056 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current account balance:
-$18.53 billion (2007 est.)

Exports:
$140.8 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

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

Exports - partners:
US 17%, UAE 8.3%, China 7.8%, UK 4.3% (2006)

Imports:
$224.1 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Imports - partners:
China 8.7%, US 6%, Germany 4.6%, Singapore 4.6%, Australia 4% (2006)

Economic aid - recipient:
$1.724 billion (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$239.4 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external:
$165.4 billion (30 June 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$67.72 billion (2006 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$21.11 billion (2006 est.)

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

Currency (code):
Indian rupee (INR)

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