India Pictures: People & Places
India Photos - Palaces
All images are the property of Rhenda Glasco. Contact me with questions regarding use, reproduction, or purchase of any of the pictures.
Library of Congress: India 2005 update
Library of Congress: India
Largest cities in India
India Environmental Report 1999
Index | Palaces | Kama Sutra Carvings | Places | Other India Photos
Recommended travel guides on India:
Economy of India [Wikitravel]:
India is the second most populous country in the world, with only China having a larger population. Language, religion, and caste are major determinants of social and political organisation within the highly diverse Indian population today. Its biggest metropolitan agglomerations are Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Delhi, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Chennai (formerly Madras).
India's literacy rate is 64.8%, with 53.7% of females and 75.3% of males being literate. The sex ratio is 933 females for every 1000 males[8]. Work Participation Rate (WPR) (the percentage of workers to total population) stands at 39.1%, with male WPR at 51.7% and female WPR at 25.6%[9]. India's median age is 24.66 and has a growth rate of 22.32 births/1,000 population[10].
Although 80.5% of the people are Hindus, India is also home to the second largest population of Muslims in the world (13.4%; see Islam in India) after Indonesia. Other smaller religious minorities include Christians (2.33%; see Christianity in India), Sikhs (1.84%), Buddhists (0.76%), Jains (0.40%), Ayyavazhi (0.12%), Jews (see Jews in India), Parsis, Ahmadi, and Bah�'�s[11].
India is home to two major linguistic families, those of the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian-derived languages. The Indian constitution recognises twenty-three official languages[12]. Hindi along with English are the languages used by the Central Government for official purposes. Two classical languages native to the land are Sanskrit and Tamil. The number of mother tongues in India is as high as 1652[13].
Demographics of India [Wikitravel]:
India has an economy ranked as the tenth largest in the world in terms of currency conversion and fourth largest in terms of purchasing power parity. It recorded one of the fastest annual growth rate of around eight percent in 2003. Owing to its large population, however, India's per-capita income by purchasing power parity works out to be just US$ 3,262, ranked 120th by the World Bank. India's foreign exchange reserves amount to over US$ 143 billion[2]. Mumbai serves as the nation's financial capital and is also home to both the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India and the Bombay Stock Exchange. While a quarter of Indians still live below the poverty line, a large middle class (more than 300 million strong) has now emerged along with the growth of a promising IT industry.
The Indian economy has shed much of its historical dependence on agriculture, which now contributes to less than 25% of the GDP[3]. Other important industries are mining, petroleum, diamond polishing, films, textiles, information technology services, and handicrafts. Most of India's industrial regions are centred around major cities. In recent years, India has emerged as one of the largest players in software and business process outsourcing services, with revenues of US$ 17.2 billion in 2004-2005[4]. There are also a lot of small-scale industries that provide steady employment to many of its citizens in small towns and villages.
While India receives only around three million foreign visitors a year, tourism is still an important source of its national income. Tourism contributes 5.3% of India's GDP. The actual employment generation, both direct and indirect, is estimated to be 42 million, or about 10% of India's work force. In monetary terms, it contributes about 4 billion US$ in foreign exchange[5]. India's major trading partners are the United States, Japan, China and the United Arab Emirates[6].
India's main exports items include agricultural products, textile goods, gems and jewellery, software services and technology, engineering goods, chemicals and leather products while its main import commodities are crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, chemicals. For the year 2004, India's total exports stood at US $69.18 billion while the imports were worth at US $89.33 billion[7].
Articles involving tourism in India:
SHARE:
|
|
|
