India

federal republicIndependence 15 August 1947 (from UK)

India as the 1990 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 76 fields, one of 36 editions from 1990 to 2025.

field in that editiontext changed from the edition beforenot in that editionthe open editionEach field below ends in its editions, 1990 to 2025. Point at a year above to follow it down.

CapitalNew Delhi

Area3,287,590 km2

Populationas each edition published it

849.75 million July 1990 · 1.42bn in 2025

Population growth% a year

Not in this edition 1.86% in 1993

Median ageyears

Not in this edition 24.1 yrs in 2003

Life expectancyyears at birth

Not in this edition 58.12 yrs in 1993

Fertility ratechildren per woman

3.8 children per woman 1990 · 2 in 2025

Infant mortalitydeaths per 1,000 live births

89 deaths per 1,000 live births 1990 · 30.5 in 2025

GDP per capitaeach edition's own dollars

Not in this edition $270 in 1993

GDP real growth% a year

Not in this edition 4% in 1993

Geography

15 fields

Land useshare of 3,287,590 km2

arable land 55%permanent crops 1%meadows and pastures 4%forest and woodland 23%other 17%includes 13% irrigated

Total area

3,287,590km2

land area: 2,973,190 km2Comparative area: slightly more than one-third the size of the US

Coastline

7,000km

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Land boundaries

14,103km total

Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km

Disputes

boundaries with Bangladesh, China, and Pakistan; water sharing problems with downstream riparians, Bangladesh over the Ganges and Pakistan over the Indus

Climate

varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

Terrain

upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north

Natural resources

coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, crude oil, limestone

Environment

droughts, flash floods, severe thunderstorms common;
deforestation;
soil erosion;
overgrazing;
air and water pollution;
desertification

Note

dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important Indian Ocean trade routes

People

14 fields

Population

849,746,001

(July 1990), growth rate 2.0% (1990)

Per 1,000 population(1990)

Birth

30Death

10Net migration

Ethnic divisions

Indo-Aryan 72%Dravidian 25%Mongoloid and other 3%

Religion

Hindu 82.6%Muslim 11.4%Christian 2.4%Sikh 2.0%Buddhist 0.7%Jains 0.5%other 0.4%

Literacy

36%

Language

Hindi, English, and 14 other official languages--Bengali, Telgu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit;
24 languages spoken by a million or more persons each;
numerous other languages and dialects, for the most part mutually unintelligible;
Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people;
English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication;
Hindustani, a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu, is spoken widely throughout northern India

Government

Federal republic

18 fields

People's Assembly, 544 seats, elected 22, 24, 26 November 1989seats by party

525 elected--Congress (I) Party 193Janata Dal Party 141Bharatiya Janata Party 86Communist Party of India (Marxist) 32independents 18Communist Party of India 12AIADMK 11Akali Dal 6Shiv Sena 4RSP 4Forward Bloc 3BSP 3Telugu Desam 2Congress (S) Party 1others 9

Long-form name

Republic of India

Type

federal republic

Capital

New Delhi

Administrative divisions

24 states and 7 union territories*;
Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Delhi*, Goa and Daman and Diu*, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Pondicherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal;
note--Goa may have become a state with Daman and Diu remaining a union territory

Independence

15 August 1947 (from UK)

Constitution

26 January 1950

Legal system

based on English common law;
limited judicial review of legislative acts;
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

National holiday

Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic, 26 January (1950)

Executive branch

president, vice president, prime minister, Council of Ministers

Legislative branch

bicameral Parliament (Sansad) consists of an upper house or Government Assembly (Rajya Sabha) and a lower house or People's Assembly (Lok Sabha)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court Chief of State--President Ramaswamy Iyer VENKATARAMAN (since 25 July 1987);
Vice President Dr. Shankar Dayal SHARMA (since 3 September 1987);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap SINGH (since 2 December 1989)

Political parties and leaders

Janata Dal Party, Prime Minister V. P. Singh;
Congress (I) Party, Rajiv Gandhi;
Bharatiya Janata Party, L. K. Advani;
Communist Party of India (CPI), C. Rajeswara Rao;
Communist Party of India/Marxist (CPI/M), E. M. S. Namboodiripad;
Communist Party of India/Marxist-Leninist (CPI/ML), Satyanarayan Singh;
All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK), a regional party in Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha;
Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, M. Karunanidhi;
Akali Dal factions representing Sikh religious community in the Punjab;
Telugu Desam, a regional party in Andhra Pradesh, N. T. Rama Rao;
National Conference (NC), a regional party in Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah;
Asom Gana Parishad, a regional party in Assam, Prafulla Mahanta

Suffrage

universal at age 18 People's Assembly--last held 22, 24, 26 November 1989 (next to be held by November 1994, subject to postponement);
results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(544 total), 525 elected--Congress (I) Party 193, Janata Dal Party 141, Bharatiya Janata Party 86, Communist Party of India (Marxist) 32, independents 18, Communist Party of India 12, AIADMK 11, Akali Dal 6, Shiv Sena 4, RSP 4, Forward Bloc 3, BSP 3, Telugu Desam 2, Congress (S) Party 1, others 9

Communists

466,000 members claimed by CPI, 361,000 members claimed by CPI/M; Communist extremist groups, about 15,000 members

Other political or pressure groups

various separatist groups seeking greater communal autonomy;
numerous senas or militant/chauvinistic organizations, including
- Shiv Sena (in Bombay),
- Anand Marg,
- and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

Member of

ADB, AIOEC, ANRPC, CCC, Colombo Plan, Commonwealth, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, ILZSG, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITC, ITU, IWC--International Wheat Council, NAM, SAARC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador-designate Abid HUSSEIN;
Chancery at 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008;
telephone (202) 939-7000;
there are Indian Consulates General in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco;
US--Ambassador William CLARK;
Embassy at Shanti Path, Chanakyapuri 110021, New Delhi;
telephone [91] (11) 600651;
there are US Consulates General in Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras

Flag

three equal horizontal bands of orange (top), white, and green with a blue chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band;
similar to the flag of Niger which has a small orange disk centered in the white band

Economy

India's Malthusian economy is a mixture of traditional village farming and handicrafts, modern agriculture, old and new branches of industry, and a multitude of support services.

17 fields

Inflation, consumer prices

9.5%

(1989 est.)

Unemployment rate

20%

(1989 est.)

External debt

$48.7billion

(1989)

Budget

Revenues

$48 billionExpenditures

$53 billion

expenditures, including capital expenditures of $13.6 billion (1989)

Overview

India's Malthusian economy is a mixture of traditional village farming and handicrafts, modern agriculture, old and new branches of industry, and a multitude of support services. It presents both the entrepreneurial skills and drives of the capitalist system and widespread government intervention of the socialist mold.

Growth of 4% to 5% annually in the 1980s has softened the impact of population growth on unemployment, social tranquility, and the environment. Agricultural output has continued to expand, reflecting the greater use of modern farming techniques and improved seed that have helped to make India self-sufficient in food grains and a net agricultural exporter.

However, tens of millions of villagers, particularly in the south, have not benefited from the green revolution and live in abject poverty. Industry has benefited from a liberalization of controls. The growth rate of the service sector has also been strong.

GNP

$333 billion, per capita $400; real growth rate 5.0% (1989 est.)

Exports

$17.2 billion (f.o.b., 1989);
commodities--tea, coffee, iron ore, fish products, manufactures;
partners--EC 25%, USSR and Eastern Europe 17%, US 19%, Japan 10%

Imports

$24.7 billion (c.i.f., 1989);
commodities--petroleum, edible oils, textiles, clothing, capital goods;
partners--EC 33%, Middle East 19%, Japan 10%, US 9%, USSR and Eastern Europe 8%

Industrial production

growth rate 8.8% (1989)

Electricity

59,000,000 kW capacity; 215,000 million kWh produced, 260 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries

textiles, food processing, steel, machinery, transportation equipment, cement, jute manufactures, mining, petroleum, power, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics

Agriculture

accounts for about 33% of GNP and employs 67% of labor force;
self-sufficient in food grains;
principal crops--rice, wheat, oilseeds, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes;
livestock--cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats and poultry;
fish catch of about 3 million metric tons ranks India in the world's top 10 fishing nations

Illicit drugs

licit producer of opium poppy for the pharmaceutical trade, but some opium is diverted to international drug markets;
major transit country for illicit narcotics produced in neighboring countries

Aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $4.2 billion;
Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1980-87), $18.6 billion;
OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $315 million;
USSR (1970-88), $10.0 billion;
Eastern Europe (1970-88), $105 million

Currency

Indian rupee (plural--rupees); 1 Indian rupee (Re) = 100 paise

Exchange rates

Indian rupees (Rs) per US$1--16.965 (January 1990), 16.226 (1989), 13.917 (1988), 12.962 (1987), 12.611 (1986), 12.369 (1985)

Fiscal year

1 April-31 March

Communications

9 fields

Airports, 345 total, 292 usable

permanent-surface runways

202runways over 3,659 m

2runways 2,440-3,659 m

57runways 1,220-2,439 m

Networkskm

Highways

1,633,300Railroads

61,850Inland waterways

16,180

Highways: (1986); 515,300 km secondary and 1,118,000 km gravel, crushed stone, or earth · Railroads: (1986); 33,553 km 1.676-meter broad gauge, 24,051 km 1.000-meter gauge, 4,246 km narrow gauge (0.762 meter and 0.610 meter); 12,617 km is double track; 6,500 km is electrified · Inland waterways: ; 3,631 km navigable by large vessels

Railroads

61,850 km total (1986);
33,553 km 1.676-meter broad gauge, 24,051 km 1.000-meter gauge, 4,246 km narrow gauge (0.762 meter and 0.610 meter);
12,617 km is double track;
6,500 km is electrified

296 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,855,842 GRT/9,790,260 DWT;
includes 1 short-sea passenger, 8 passenger-cargo, 95 cargo, 1 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 8 container, 53 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 10 chemical tanker, 9 combination ore/oil,109 bulk, 2 combination bulk