Country Name: India (Republic of India)

Capital: New Delhi

Government Type: federal parliamentary republic

Background: The Indus Valley civilization, one of the world's oldest, flourished during the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. and extended into northwestern India. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science, art, and culture. Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of 700 years. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the Delhi Sultanate. In the early 16th century, the Emperor BABUR established the Mughal Dynasty, which ruled  large sections of India for more than three centuries. European explorers began establishing footholds in India during the 16th century.

By the 19th century, Great Britain had become the dominant political power on the subcontinent and India was seen as the "Jewel in the Crown" of the British Empire. The British Indian Army played a vital role in both World Wars. Years of nonviolent resistance to British rule, led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU, eventually resulted in Indian independence in 1947. Large-scale communal violence took place before and after the subcontinent partition into two separate states - India and Pakistan. The neighboring countries have fought three wars since independence, the last of which was in 1971 and resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998 emboldened Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year. In November 2008, terrorists originating from Pakistan conducted a series of coordinated attacks in Mumbai, India's financial capital. India's economic growth following the launch of economic reforms in 1991, a massive youthful population, and a strategic geographic location have contributed to India's emergence as a regional and global power. However, India still faces pressing problems such as environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and widespread corruption, and its restrictive business climate challenges economic growth expectations.

Continent: Asia

Population: 1,399,179,585 (2023 est.)

Ethnic Groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, and other 3% (2000)

Languages: Hindi 43.6%, Bengali 8%, Marathi 6.9%, Telugu 6.7%, Tamil 5.7%, Gujarati 4.6%, Urdu 4.2%, Kannada 3.6%, Odia 3.1%, Malayalam 2.9%, Punjabi 2.7%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.1%, other 5.6%; note - English enjoys the status of subsidiary official language but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; there are 22 other officially recognized languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu; Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language (2011 est.)

Religions: Hindu 79.8%, Muslim 14.2%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.7%, other and unspecified 2% (2011 est.)

Economic Overview: largest South Asian economy; still informal domestic economies; COVID-19 reversed both economic growth and poverty reduction; credit access weaknesses contributing to lower private consumption and inflation; new social and infrastructure equity efforts

Currency: Indian Rupee (INR)

Reserves of Foreign Exchange & Gold: $567.298 billion (2022 est.) note: holdings of gold (year-end prices)/foreign exchange/special drawing rights in current dollars

Real GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $10.079 trillion (2022 est.) note: data in 2017 dollars

Real GDP Growth Rate: 7.24% (2022 est.) note: annual GDP % growth based on constant local currency

Real GDP per Capita: $7,100 (2022 est.) note: data in 2017 dollars

Exports: 

• $767.643 billion (2022 est.) note: balance of payments - exports of goods and services in current dollars

• Comparison Ranking: 10

Export Commodities: refined petroleum, diamonds, packaged medicines, jewelry, rice (2021)

Export Partners: US 18%, UAE 6%, China 6%, Bangladesh 4%, Hong Kong 3% (2021)

Imports: 

• $902.304 billion (2022 est.) note: balance of payments - imports of goods and services in current dollars

• Comparison Ranking: 7

Import Commodities: crude petroleum, gold, coal, diamonds, natural gas (2019)

Import Partners: China 17%, United Arab Emirates 7%, United States 7%, Switzerland 6%, Saudi Arabia 5% (2021)

Natural Resources: coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), antimony, iron ore, lead, manganese, mica, bauxite, rare earth elements, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land

Agricultural Products: sugarcane, rice, wheat, buffalo milk, milk, potatoes, vegetables, bananas, maize, mangoes/guavas

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

Industrial Production Growth Rate: 

• 4.38% (2022 est.) note: annual % change in industrial value added based on constant local currency

• Comparison Ranking: 70

Labor Force: 554.145 million (2022 est.)

Unemployment Rate: 4.82% (2022 est.) note: % of labor force seeking employment

Natural Hazards: droughts; flash floods, as well as widespread and destructive flooding from monsoonal rains; severe thunderstorms; earthquakes

Geography:

• Total: 3,287,263 sq km

• Land: 2,973,193 sq km

• Water: 314,070 sq km

(Country Summary, The World Factbook, CIA.gov)

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