02 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity--exports: 130 million kWh (1996)

Electricity--imports: 1.675 billion kWh (1996)

Agriculture--products: rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea,
sugarcane, potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry;
fish

Exports: $32.17 billion (f.o.b., 1998)

Exports--commodities: textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering
goods, chemicals, leather manufactures

Exports--partners: US 19%, Hong Kong 6%, UK 6%, Japan 6%, Germany
5% (1997)

Imports: $41.34 billion (c.i.f., 1998)

Imports--commodities: crude oil and petroleum products, machinery,
gems, fertilizer, chemicals

Imports--partners: US 10%, Belgium 7%, UK 7%, Germany 7%, Saudi
Arabia 6%, Japan 6% (1997)

Debt--external: $93 billion (1998)

Economic aid--recipient: $1.604 billion (1995)

Currency: 1 Indian rupee (Re) = 100 paise

Exchange rates: Indian rupees (Rs) per US$1--42.508 (January
1999), 41.259 (1998), 36.313 (1997), 35.433 (1996), 32.427 (1995),
31.374 (1994)

Fiscal year: 1 April--31 March

Communications

Telephones: 12 million (1996)

Telephone system: mediocre; local and long distance service
provided throughout all regions of the country, with services
primarily concentrated in the urban areas; major objective is to
continue to expand and modernize long-distance network in order to
keep pace with rapidly growing number of local subscriber lines;
steady improvement is taking place with the recent admission of
private and private-public investors, but demand for communication
services is also growing rapidly
domestic: local service is provided by microwave radio relay and
coaxial cable, with open wire and obsolete electromechanical and
manual switchboard systems still in use in rural areas; starting in
the 1980s, a substantial amount of digital switch gear has been
introduced for local- and long-distance service; long-distance
traffic is carried mostly by coaxial cable and low-capacity
microwave radio relay; since 1985, however, significant trunk
capacity has been added in the form of fiber-optic cable and a
domestic satellite system with 254 earth stations; cellular
telephone service in four metropolitan cities
international: satellite earth stations--8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean)
and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean Region); four gateway exchanges
operating from Mumbai, New Delhi, Calcutta, and Chennai; submarine
cables to Malaysia, UA