India: Economy

Economy - overview

India's economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of support services. Government controls have been reduced on foreign trade and investment, and privatization of domestic output has proceeded slowly. The economy has posted an excellent average growth rate of 6% since 1990, 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 continuing public-sector budget deficit, running at approximately 10% of GDP.

GDP

purchasing power parity - $3.022 trillion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate

7.6% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita

purchasing power parity - $2,900 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector

agriculture: 23.6%
industry: 28.4%
services: 48% (2002 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)

4.6% (2003 est.)

Labor force

406 million (1999)

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture 60%, services 23%, industry 17% (1999)

Unemployment rate

9.1% (2003)

Budget

revenues: $48.3 billion
expenditures: $78.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $13.5 (FY01/02 est.)

Industries

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

Industrial production growth rate

6% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production

533.3 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - production by source

fossil fuel: 81.7%
hydro: 14.5%
other: 0.3% (2001)
nuclear: 3.4%

Electricity - consumption

497.2 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports

321 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports

1.54 billion kWh (2001)

Oil - production

732,400 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption

2.13 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports

NA

Oil - imports

NA

Oil - proved reserves

4.33 billion bbl (1 January 2002)

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 (1 January 2002)

Agriculture - products

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

Exports

$57.24 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities

textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures

Exports - partners

US 22.4%, UK 5.1%, Hong Kong 4.5%, Germany 4.3%, China 4.1% (2002)

Imports

$74.15 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities

crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals

Imports - partners

US 6.9%, Belgium 6.4%, China 4.5%, Singapore 4.4%, UK 4.4% (2002)

Debt - external

$95.3 billion (2003 est.)

Economic aid - recipient

$2.9 billion (FY98/99)

Currency

Indian rupee (INR)

Currency code

INR

Exchange rates

Indian rupees per US dollar - 46.58 (2003), 48.61 (2002), 47.19 (2001), 44.94 (2000), 43.06 (1999)

Fiscal year

1 April - 31 March