india - Economy

Economy

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 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. Tariffs averaged 12.5% on non-agricultural items in 2006. 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 remained stalled in 2006, 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 1996, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved 8.5% GDP growth in 2006, significantly expanding manufacturing. 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 - more than 8 percent growth in each of the last three years - 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):	$4.164 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):	$805.5 billion (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:	9.4% (2006 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:	agriculture: 17.5% industry: 27.9% services: 54.6% (2005 est.)
Labor force:	506.9 million (2006 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:	agriculture: 60% industry: 12% services: 28% (2003)
Unemployment rate:	7.8% (2006 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):	6.2% (2006 est.)
Investment (gross fixed):	29.5% of GDP (2006 est.)
Budget:	revenues: $97.16 billion expenditures: $128.7 billion (2006 est.)
Public debt:	60% of GDP (federal and state debt combined) (2006 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:	7.5% (2006 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:	785,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - consumption:	2.45 million bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - exports:	350,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - imports:	2.098 million bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - proved reserves:	5.6 billion bbl (1 January 2006)
Current account balance:	$-10.36 billion (2006 est.)
Exports:	$123.2 billion f.o.b. (2006 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:	$184.4 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)
Imports - commodities:	crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals
Imports - partners:	China 8.7%, US 6%, Germany 4.6%, Singapore 4.6%, Australia 4% (2006)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:	$176.1 billion (2006 est.)
Debt - external:	$131.1 billion (2006 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:	$1.724 billion (2005)
Currency (code):	Indian rupee (INR)
Exchange rates:	Indian rupees per US dollar - 45.3 (2006), 44.101 (2005), 45.317 (2004), 46.583 (2003), 48.61 (2002)
Fiscal year:	1 April - 31 March