s
stalled and continues to generate political debate; populist
pressure from within the UPA government and from its Left Front
allies continues to restrain needed initiatives. The economy has
posted an average growth rate of more than 7% in the decade since
1997, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India achieved
8.5% GDP growth in 2006, and again in 2007, significantly expanding
production of manufactures. India is capitalizing on its large
numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language to
become a major exporter of software services and software workers.
Economic expansion has helped New Delhi continue to make progress in
reducing its federal fiscal deficit. However, strong growth combined
with easy consumer credit and a real estate boom fueled inflation
concerns in 2006 and 2007, leading to a series of central bank
interest rate hikes that have slowed credit growth and eased
inflation concerns. The huge and growing population is the
fundamental social, economic, and environmental problem.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$2.966 trillion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$1.099 trillion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

9% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$2,600 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 17.8%
industry: 29.4%
services: 52.8% (2007 est.)

Labor force:

516.4 million (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 60%
industry: 12%
services: 28% (2003)

Unemployment rate:

7.2% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:

25% (2007 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 3.6%
highest 10%: 31.1% (2004)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:

36.8 (2004)

Investment (gross fixed):

33.9% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:

revenues: $141.2 billion
expenditures: $172.6 billion (2007 est.)

Fiscal year:

1 April - 31 March

Public debt:

58.2% of GDP (federal and state debt combined) (2007 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

6.4% (2007 est.)

Central bank discount rate:

6% (31 December 2007)

Commercial bank prime lending rate:

13.02% (31 December 2007)

Stock of money:

$250.9 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of quasi money:

$647.3 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of domestic credit:

$769.3 billion (31 December 2007)

Agriculture - products:

rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, te