of mission: Ambassador Siddhartha Shankar RAY
chancery: 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 939-7000
consulate(s) general: Chicago, New York, and San Francisco

US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission: Ambassador Frank G. WISNER
embassy: Shanti Path, Chanakyapuri 110021, New Delhi
mailing address: use embassy street address
telephone: [91] (11) 600651
FAX: [91] (11) 6872028
consulate(s) general: Bombay, Calcutta, Madras

Flag: three equal horizontal bands of orange (top), white, and green
with a blue chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band;
similar to the flag of Niger, which has a small orange disk centered
in the white band

@India:Economy

Overview: India's economy is a mixture of traditional village farming,
modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries,
and a multitude of support services. Faster economic growth in the
1980s permitted a significant increase in real per capita private
consumption. A large share of the population, perhaps as much as 40%,
remains too poor to afford an adequate diet. Financial strains in 1990
and 1991 prompted government austerity measures that slowed industrial
growth but permitted India to meet its international payment
obligations without rescheduling its debt. Production, trade, and
investment reforms since 1991 have provided new opportunities for
Indian businessmen and an estimated 100 million to 200 million middle
class consumers. New Delhi has always paid its foreign debts on
schedule and has stimulated exports, attracted foreign investment, and
revived confidence in India's economic prospects. Foreign exchange
reserves, precariously low three years ago, now total more than $19
billion. Positive factors for the remainder of the 1990s are India's
strong entrepreneurial class and the central government's recognition
of the continuing need for market-oriented approaches to economic
development, for example in upgrading the wholly inadequate
communications facilities. Negative factors include the desperate
poverty of hundreds of millions of Indians and the impact of the huge
and expanding population on an already overloaded environment.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $1.2539 trillion
(1994 est.)

National product real growth rate: 5% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $1,360 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10% (1