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 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. 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, which was granted in 1947. Large-scale communal violence took place before and after the subcontinent partition into two separate states - India and Pakistan. The neighboring nations 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. Despite pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and widespread corruption, economic growth following the launch of economic reforms in 1991 and a massive youthful population are driving India's emergence as a regional and global power.

Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan

20 00 N, 77 00 E

Asia

slightly more than one-third the size of the US

7,000 km

varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

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

highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m

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

arable land 52.8%; permanent crops 4.2%; permanent pasture 3.5%

667,000 sq km (2012)

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

deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources

dominates South Asian subcontinent; near important Indian Ocean trade routes; Kanchenjunga, third tallest mountain in the world, lies on the border with Nepal

1,266,883,598 (July 2016 est.)

Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)

Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%, Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%, Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%, other 5.9%

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

1.19% (2016 est.)

19.3 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)

7.3 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)

NEW DELHI (capital) 25.703 million; Mumbai 21.043 million; Kolkata 11.766 million; Bangalore 10.087 million; Chennai 9.62 million; Hyderabad 8.944 million (2015)

19.9

174 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)

2.45 children born/woman (2016 est.)

54.8% (2007/08)

4.7% of GDP (2014)

0.7 physicians/1,000 population (2012)

0.7 beds/1,000 population (2011)

urban: 97.1% of population

rural: 92.6% of population

total: 94.1% of population

urban: 2.9% of population

rural: 7.4% of population

total: 5.9% of population (2015 est.)

urban: 62.6% of population

rural: 28.5% of population

total: 39.6% of population

urban: 37.4% of population

rural: 71.5% of population

total: 60.4% of population (2015 est.)

0.26% (2013 est.)

2,118,100 (2015 est.)

67,600 (2015 est.)

4.7% (2014)

43.5% (2006)

3.8% of GDP (2013)

federal parliamentary republic

29 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal

15 August 1947 (from the UK)

Republic Day, 26 January (1950)

previous 1935 (preindependence); latest draft completed 4 November 1949, adopted 26 November 1949, effective 26 January 1950; amended many times, last in 2015 (2016)

common law system based on the English model; separate personal law codes apply to Muslims, Christians, and Hindus; judicial review of legislative acts

accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; non-party state to the ICCt

18 years of age; universal

Aam Aadmi Party or AAP [Arvind KEJRIWAL]

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or AIADMK [J. JAYALALITHAA]

All India Trinamool Congress or AITC [Mamata BANERJEE]

Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP [MAYAWATI]

Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP [Amit SHAH]

Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen PATNAIK]

Communist Party of India-Marxist or CPI(M) [Prakash KARAT]

Indian National Congress or INC [Sonia GANDHI]

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) [Ram Vilas PASWAN]

Nationalist Congress Party or NCP [Sharad PAWAR]

Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Lalu Prasad YADAV]

Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV]

Shiromani Akali Dal or SAD [Parkash Singh BADAL]

Shiv Sena or SS [Uddhav THACKERAY]

Telegana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) [K. Chandrashekar RAO]

Telugu Desam Party or TDP [Chandrababu NAIDU]

YSR Congress (YSRC) [Jaganmohan REDDY]

All Parties Hurriyat Conference in the Kashmir Valley (separatist group)

Bajrang Dal (militant religious organization)

Jamiat Ulema-e Hind [Mahmood MADANI] (religious organization)

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [Mohan BHAGWAT] (nationalist organization)

Vishwa Hindu Parishad [Pravin TOGADIA] (militant religious organization)

ADB, AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), ARF, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIMSTEC, BIS, BRICS, C, CD, CERN (observer), CICA, CP, EAS, FAO, FATF, G-15, G-20, G-24, G-5, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LAS (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, MONUSCO, NAM, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, Pacific Alliance (observer), PCA, PIF (partner), SAARC, SACEP, SCO (observer), UN, UNCTAD, UNDOF, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNISFA, UNITAR, UNMISS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

three equal horizontal bands of saffron (subdued orange) (top), white, and green, with a blue chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band; saffron represents courage, sacrifice, and the spirit of renunciation; white signifies purity and truth; green stands for faith and fertility; the blue chakra symbolizes the wheel of life in movement and death in stagnation

the Lion Capital of Ashoka, which depicts four Asiatic lions standing back to back mounted on a circular abacus, is the official emblem; Bengal tiger; lotus flower; national colors: saffron, white, green

India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Slightly less than half of the work force is in agriculture, but services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for nearly two-thirds of India's output but employing less than one-third of its labor force. India has capitalized on its large educated English-speaking population to become a major exporter of information technology services, business outsourcing services, and software workers.

India is developing into an open-market economy, yet traces of its past autarkic policies remain. Economic liberalization measures, including industrial deregulation, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and reduced controls on foreign trade and investment, began in the early 1990s and served to accelerate the country's growth, which averaged under 7% per year from 1997 to 2011. India's economic growth began slowing in 2011 because of a decline in investment caused by high interest rates, rising inflation, and investor pessimism about the government's commitment to further economic reforms and about slow world growth. Rising macroeconomic imbalances in India and improving economic conditions in Western countries led investors to shift capital away from India, prompting a sharp depreciation of the rupee.

Growth rebounded in 2014 and 2015, with both years exceeding 7%. Investors’ perceptions of India improved in early 2014, due to a reduction of the current account deficit and expectations of post-election economic reform, resulting in a surge of inbound capital flows and stabilization of the rupee. Since the election, economic reforms have focused on administrative and governance changes largely because the ruling party remains a minority in India’s upper house of Parliament, which must approve most bills. Despite a high growth rate compared to the rest of the world, in 2015, India’s government-owned banks faced mounting bad debt, resulting in low credit growth and restrained economic growth.

The outlook for India's long-term growth is moderately positive due to a young population and corresponding low dependency ratio, healthy savings and investment rates, and increasing integration into the global economy. However, India's discrimination against women and girls, an inefficient power generation and distribution system, ineffective enforcement of intellectual property rights, decades-long civil litigation dockets, inadequate transport and agricultural infrastructure, limited non-agricultural employment opportunities, high spending and poorly targeted subsidies, inadequate availability of quality basic and higher education, and accommodating rural-to-urban migration are significant long-term challenges.

$8.721 trillion (2016 est.)

$8.103 trillion (2015 est.)

$7.534 trillion (2014 est.)

$2.251 trillion (2015 est.)

7.6% (2016 est.)

7.6% (2015 est.)

7.2% (2014 est.)

$6,700 (2016 est.)

$6,300 (2015 est.)

$5,900 (2014 est.)

30.2% of GDP (2016 est.)

31.3% of GDP (2015 est.)

32.8% of GDP (2014 est.)

rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, lentils, onions, potatoes; dairy products, sheep, goats, poultry; fish

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

7.4% (2016 est.)

513.7 million (2016 est.)

8.4% (2016 est.)

8.4% (2015 est.)

29.8% (2010 est.)

33.6 (2012)

37.8 (1997)

8.9% of GDP (2016 est.)

-3.7% of GDP (2016 est.)

52.3% of GDP (2016 est.)

52.4% of GDP (2015 est.)

1 April - 31 March

5.6% (2016 est.)

4.9% (2015 est.)

7.75% (31 December 2014)

7.75% (31 December 2013)

9.3% (31 December 2016 est.)

10.01% (31 December 2015 est.)

$385.9 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

$370.5 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$1.728 trillion (31 December 2016 est.)

$1.704 trillion (31 December 2015 est.)

$1.579 trillion (31 December 2016 est.)

$1.57 trillion (31 December 2015 est.)

$1.516 trillion (31 December 2015 est.)

$1.558 trillion (31 December 2014 est.)

$1.139 trillion (31 December 2013 est.)

-$31.97 billion (2016 est.)

-$22.09 billion (2015 est.)

$271.6 billion (2016 est.)

$272.4 billion (2015 est.)

petroleum products, precious stones, vehicles, machinery, iron and steel, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, cereals, apparel

US 15.2%, UAE 11.4%, Hong Kong 4.6% (2015)

$402.4 billion (2016 est.)

$409.2 billion (2015 est.)

crude oil, precious stones, machinery, chemicals, fertilizer, plastics, iron and steel

China 15.5%, UAE 5.5%, Saudi Arabia 5.4%, Switzerland 5.3%, US 5.2% (2015)

$359.1 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

$351.6 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$507 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

$480.8 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$351.8 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

$296.8 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$149 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

$139 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

Indian rupees (INR) per US dollar -

68.3 (2016 est.)

64.152 (2015 est.)

64.152 (2014 est.)

61.03 (2013 est.)

53.44 (2012 est.)

1.218 trillion kWh (2014 est.)

973 billion kWh (2014 est.)

200 million kWh (2012 est.)

5 billion kWh (2014 est.)

311 million kW (2014 est.)

68.7% of total installed capacity (26 February 2014 )

2% of total installed capacity (26 February 2014 )

16.9% of total installed capacity (26 February 2014 )

12.4% of total installed capacity (26 February 2014 )

761,000 bbl/day (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

3.785 million bbl/day (2013 est.)

5.675 billion bbl (1 January 2016 es)

4.775 million bbl/day (2013 est.)

3.735 million bbl/day (2014 est.)

1.471 million bbl/day (2013 est.)

401,900 bbl/day (2013 est.)

30.4 billion cu m (2014 est.)

52.1 billion cu m (2014 est.)

0 cu m (2014 est.)

21.7 billion cu m (2014 est.)

1.489 trillion cu m (1 January 2016 es)

1.887 billion Mt (2013 est.)

Doordarshan, India's public TV network, operates about 20 national, regional, and local services; a large and increasing number of privately owned TV stations are distributed by cable and satellite service providers; in 2015, more than 230 million homes h (2015)

.in

VT (2016)

346 (2013)

45 (2013)

condensate/gas 9 km; gas 13,581 km; liquid petroleum gas 2,054 km; oil 8,943 km; oil/gas/water 20 km; refined products 11,069 km (2013)

14,500 km (5,200 km on major rivers and 485 km on canals suitable for mechanized vessels) (2012)

Army, Navy (includes naval air arm), Air Force, Coast Guard (2011)

16-18 years of age for voluntary military service (Army 17 1/2, Air Force 17, Navy 16 1/2); no conscription; women may join as officers, currently serve in combat roles as pilots, and will soon be allowed in all combat roles (2016)

2.4% of GDP (2014)

2.4% of GDP (2013)

2.5% of GDP (2012)

2.6% of GDP (2011)

2.7% of GDP (2010)

since China and India launched a security and foreign policy dialogue in 2005, consolidated discussions related to the dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, Indian claims that China transferred missiles to Pakistan, and other matters continue

Kashmir remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas)

India and Pakistan resumed bilateral dialogue in February 2011 after a two-year hiatus, have maintained the 2003 cease-fire in Kashmir, and continue to have disputes over water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries

UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani maps continue to show its Junagadh claim in Indian Gujarat State; Prime Minister Singh's September 2011 visit to Bangladesh resulted in the signing of a Protocol to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh, which had called for the settlement of longstanding boundary disputes over undemarcated areas and the exchange of territorial enclaves, but which had never been implemented; Bangladesh referred its maritime boundary claims with Burma and India to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea; Joint Border Committee with Nepal continues to examine contested boundary sections, including the 400 sq km dispute over the source of the Kalapani River; India maintains a strict border regime to keep out Maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activities from Nepal

world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade, but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets; transit point for illicit narcotics produced in neighboring countries and throughout Southwest Asia; illicit producer of methaqualone; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through the hawala system; licit ketamine and precursor production