



Republic of India

Terrain: Varies from Himalayas to flat river valleys.
Climate: Alpine to temperate to subtropical monsoon.

Nationality: Noun and adjective--Indian(s).
Population (2003 est.): 1.05 billion; urban 27.8%.
Annual growth rate: 1.6%.
Density: 319/sq. km.
Religions: Hindu 81.3%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5%.
Languages: Hindi, English, and 16 other official languages.
Education: Years compulsory--9 (to age 14). Literacy--55.2%.

Type: Federal republic.
Independence: August 15, 1947.
Constitution: January 26, 1950.
Political parties: Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress (I), Janata Dal (United), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India-Marxist, and numerous regional and small national parties.
Political subdivisions: 28 states,* 7 union territories.
Suffrage: Universal over 18.

GDP: $576 billion (2003); $648 billion (2004 est.).
Real growth rate: 8.2% (2003).
Per capita GDP: $543 (2003); $602 (2004 est.).
Services and transportation: 50.7% of GDP.
Trade: Exports--$62 billion; agricultural products, engineering goods, precious stones, cotton apparel and fabrics, gems and jewelry, handicrafts, tea. Software exports--$12.5 billion. Imports--$76 billion; petroleum, machinery and transport equipment, electronic goods, edible oils, fertilizers, chemicals, gold, textiles, iron and steel. Major trade partners--U.S., EU, Russia, Japan, Iraq.



The caste system reflects Indian occupational and socially defined hierarchies. Sanskrit sources refer to four social categories, priests (Brahmin), warriors (kshatriya), traders (vayisha) and farmers (shudra). Although these categories are understood throughout India, they describe reality only in the most general terms. They omit, for example, the tribes and low castes once known as 'untouchables.' In reality, society in India is divided into thousands of jatis, local, endogamous groups, organized hierarchically according to complex ideas of purity and pollution. Despite economic modernization and laws countering discrimination against the lower end of the class structure, the caste system remains an important source of social identification for most Hindus and a potent factor in the political life of the country.










Prime Minister Nehru governed the nation until his death in 1964. He was succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri, who also died in office. In 1966, power passed to Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977. In 1975, beset with deepening political and economic problems, Mrs. Gandhi declared a state of emergency and suspended many civil liberties. Seeking a mandate at the polls for her policies, she called for elections in 1977, only to be defeated by Moraji Desai, who headed the Janata Party, an amalgam of five opposition parties.


In the 1989 elections Rajiv Gandhi and Congress won more seats than any other single party, but he was unable to form a government with a clear majority. The Janata Dal, a union of opposition parties, then joined with the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the right and the communists on the left to form the government. This loose coalition collapsed in November 1990, and Janata Dal, supported by the Congress (I), came to power for a short period, with Chandra Shekhar as Prime Minister. That alliance also collapsed, resulting in national elections in June 1991.

On May 27, 1991, while campaigning in Tamil Nadu on behalf of Congress (I), Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, apparently by Tamil extremists from Sri Lanka. In the elections, Congress (I) won 213 parliamentary seats and returned to power at the head of a coalition, under the leadership of P.V. Narasimha Rao. This Congress-led government, which served a full 5-year term, initiated a gradual process of economic liberalization and reform, which opened the Indian economy to global trade and investment. India's domestic politics also took new shape, as the nationalist appeal of the Congress Party gave way to traditional alignments by caste, creed, and ethnicity leading to the founding of a plethora of small, regionally based political parties.


In November 1997, the Congress Party again withdrew support from the United Front. In new elections in February 1998, the BJP won the largest number of seats in Parliament--182--but fell far short of a majority. On March 20, 1998, the President inaugurated a BJP-led coalition government with Vajpayee again serving as Prime Minister. On May 11 and 13, 1998, this government conducted a series of underground nuclear tests, forcing U.S. President Clinton to impose economic sanctions on India pursuant to the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act.

In April 1999, the BJP-led coalition government fell apart, leading to fresh elections in September. The National Democratic Alliance--a new coalition led by the BJP--gained a majority to form the government with Vajpayee as Prime Minister in October 1999.

The Kargil conflict in 1999 and an attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001 led to increased tensions with Pakistan. Hindu nationalists have long agitated to build a temple on a disputed site in Ayodhya. In February 2002, a mob of Muslims attacked a train carrying Hindu volunteers returning from Ayodhya to the state of Gujarat, and 57 were burnt alive. Over 900 people were killed and 100,000 left homeless in the resulting anti-Muslim riots throughout the state. This led to accusations that the state government had not done enough to contain the riots, or arrest and prosecute the rioters.

The ruling BJP-led coalition was defeated in a five-stage election held in April and May of 2004, and a Congress-led coalition took power on May 22 with Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister.

According to its Constitution, India is a "sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic." Like the United States, India has a federal form of government. However, the central government in India has greater power in relation to its states, and its central government is patterned after the British parliamentary system.


Real national executive power is centered in the Council of Ministers (cabinet), led by the prime minister. The president appoints the prime minister, who is designated by legislators of the political party or coalition commanding a parliamentary majority in the Lok Sabha. The president then appoints subordinate ministers on the advice of the prime minister.






Principal Government Officials
President-A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
Vice President-Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
Prime Minister-Dr. Manmohan Singh
Home Minister-Shivraj Patil
Minister of External Affairs-Natwar Singh
Minister of State (External Affairs)-E. Ahamed
Ambassador to the U.S.-Ronen Sen
Ambassador to the UN-Nirupam Sen



Emerging as the nation's single largest party in the April/May 2004 Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) election, Congress currently leads a coalition government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Party President Sonia Gandhi was re-elected by the Party National Executive in May 2004. She is also a Member of Parliament and leader of the Congress delegation in the Lok Sabha. Congress prides itself as a secular, left of center party, and has been the historically dominant political party in India. Although its performance in national elections had steadily declined during the last 12 years, its surprise victory in 2004, was a result of recruiting strong allies into the UPA, the anti-incumbency factor among voters, and winning the votes of many poor, rural and Muslim voters. The political fortunes of the Congress had suffered badly in the 1990's as major groups in its traditional vote bank were lost to emerging regional and caste-based parties, such as the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party. In November 2003, elections in five states reduced the number of Congress ruled states from 14.5 to 11.5-the Congress shares power with the People's Democratic Party in the state of Jammu and Kashmir--and convinced the BJP to move up the Lok Sabha elections from October to May.


The party holds power in the states of Gujarat, Jharkhand, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa-in coalition with the Biju Janata Dal-and in Haryana-in coalition with the Indian National Lok Dal. Popularly viewed as the party of the northern upper caste and trading communities, the BJP has made strong inroads into the lower caste vote bank in recent national and state assembly elections. The party must balance the competing interests of Hindu nationalists, (who advocate construction of a temple on a disputed site in Ayodhya), and center-right modernizers who see the BJP as a party of economic and political reform.


The next general election is scheduled for 2009.

India's population is estimated at nearly 1.07 billion and is growing at 1.7% a year. It has the world's 12th largest economy--and the third largest in Asia behind Japan and China--with total GDP of around $570 billion. Services, industry and agriculture account for 50.7%, 26.6% and 22.7% of GDP respectively. Nearly two-thirds of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. About 25% of the population lives below the poverty line, but a large and growing middle class of 320-340 million has disposable income for consumer goods.


Real GDP growth for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004 was 8.17%, up from the drought-depressed 4.0% growth in the previous year. Growth for the year ending March 31, 2005 is expected to be between 6.5% and 7.0%. Foreign portfolio and direct investment in-flows have risen significantly in recent years. They have contributed to the $120 billion in foreign exchange reserves at the end of June 2004. Government receipts from privatization were about $3 billion in fiscal year 2003-04.

However, economic growth is constrained by inadequate infrastructure, a cumbersome bureaucracy, corruption, labor market rigidities, regulatory and foreign investment controls, the "reservation" of key products for small-scale industries and high fiscal deficits. The outlook for further trade liberalization is mixed. India eliminated quotas on 1,420 consumer imports in 2002 and has announced its intention to continue to lower customs duties. However, the tax structure is complex with compounding effects of various taxes.

The United States is India's largest trading partner. Bilateral trade in 2003 was $18.1 billion and is expected to reach $20 billion in 2004. Principal U.S. exports are diagnostic or lab reagents, aircraft and parts, advanced machinery, cotton, fertilizers, ferrous waste/scrap metal and computer hardware. Major U.S. imports from India include textiles and ready-made garments, internet-enabled services, agricultural and related products, gems and jewelry, leather products and chemicals.

The rapidly growing software sector is boosting service exports and modernizing India's economy. Revenues from IT industry are expected to cross $20 billion in 2004-05. Software exports were $12.5 billion in 2003-04. PC penetration is 8 per 1,000 persons, but is expected to grow to 10 per 1,000 by 2005. The cellular mobile market is expected to surge to over 50 million subscribers by 2005 from the present 36 million users. The country has 52 million cable TV customers.

The United States is India's largest investment partner, with total inflow of U.S. direct investment estimated at $3.7 billion in 2003. Proposals for direct foreign investment are considered by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and generally receive government approval. Automatic approvals are available for investments involving up to 100% foreign equity, depending on the kind of industry. Foreign investment is particularly sought after in power generation, telecommunications, ports, roads, petroleum exploration/processing and mining.

India's external debt was $112 billion in 2003, up from $105 billion in 2002. Bilateral assistance was approximately $2.62 billion in 2002-03, with the United States providing about $130.2 million in development assistance in 2003. The World Bank plans to double aid to India to almost $3 billion over the next four years, beginning in July 2004.










Bilateral and Regional Relations
Pakistan. The January 2004 SAARC summit marked a historic breakthrough, with India and Pakistan agreeing to resume a composite dialogue on all issues including Kashmir.








Prime Minister Vajpayee's April 18, 2003 speech in Srinagar (Kashmir) revived bilateral efforts to normalize relations. After a series of confidence building measures, Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf met on the sidelines of the January 2004 SAARC summit in Islamabad and agreed to commence a Composite Dialogue addressing outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, including Kashmir. In November 2003, Prime Minister Vajapyee and President Musharraf agreed to a ceasefire along the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir, which is still holding. The UPA government has pledged to continue the Composite Dialogue with Pakistan.











In late September 2001, President Bush lifted the sanctions that were imposed under the terms of the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act following India's nuclear tests in May 1998. The nonproliferation dialogue initiated after the 1998 nuclear tests has bridged many of the gaps in understanding between the countries. President Bush met Prime Minister Vajpayee in November 2001, and the two leaders expressed a strong interest in transforming the U.S.-India bilateral relationship. High-level meetings and concrete cooperation between the two countries increased during 2002 and 2003. The U.S. and India announced on January 12, 2004, the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP), both a milestone in the transformation of the bilateral relationship and a blueprint for its further progress. Progress has been made on this initiative with the conclusion of Phase I in late September 2004.

Principal U.S. Embassy Officials
Ambassador—David C. Mulford
Deputy Chief of Mission--Robert O. Blake
Public Affairs-Michael H. Anderson
Political Affairs-Geoffrey R. Pyatt
Economic Affairs-Lee H. Brudvig
Scientific Affairs-Dr. Marco Di Capua
Commercial Affairs-John Peters
Agricultural Affairs-Chad Russell
Management Affairs-James Forbes
Consular Affairs-William Bartlett
USAID Mission Director-Walter E. North

Consuls General
Mumbai (formerly Bombay)--Angus T. Simmons
Kolkata (formerly Calcutta)--George N. Sibley
Chennai (formerly Madras)--Richard D. Haynes



Travel: Please consult Consular Affairs.
Business Information: Please consult the Department of Commerce.

[This is a mobile copy of India (11/04)]

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