India » Introduction

Basic Economic Facts

GDP	$5.21 trillion (2008 est.)
GDP per head	$978
Annual Growth	9.6% (2006/07)
Major Industries	textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software, services
Major Trading Partners	US, China, UAE, Hong Kong, Germany

India’s Economy is believed to be the fastest growing economy from the developing countries. With a GDP rate of 9.2% in the year 2007, it is ready to compete with the Global Economy Giants in the coming years. Indian Economic Growth is made possible by the market reform introduced by the Government, influx of the foreign direct investment, financial uplift in the real estate and IT sector and an ever-growing capital market.

In terms of USD exchange rate, economy of India is the twelfth largest in the world. After China it is ranked as the second largest growing economy of the world. In terms of sustainable growth rate, it is anticipated that India will play a major role on the world stage in the coming years.

Indian economic history can be divided into four major eras; pre-colonial, colonial, pre-1991 and Post 1991. In the recent times after the independence, India’s economic policies, relating to trade and foreign investment showed strong fear of the colonial period. The government policies made it impossible for the foreign investors to possess any property or make economic transactions of any sort in the country.

In the late 80’s, with Narishma Rao as Prime Minister and Mr. Manmohan Singh as the Finance Minister of India, certain economic reforms were introduced in the country, which paved the path for India’s economic growth in the future. These changes were implicated in the country in the year 1991; reforms were made on the issues of foreign investment and development of private sector in the country. Soviet was the major Indian trade partner at that time, with the destruction of the soviet, Indian Government were forced to change their trade policies. This was a milestone in India’s journey towards economic stability, which is still going on, with nothing to stop it.