Advantage India

• World's largest democracy with 1.2 billion people.
• Stable political environment and responsive administrative set up.
• Well established judiciary to enforce rule of law.
• Land of abundant natural resources and diverse climatic conditions.
• Rapid economic growth: GDP to grow by 8.5% in 2010-11* and 9.0% in 2011-12.
• India's growth will start to outpace China's within three to five years and hence will become the fastest large economy with 9-10% growth over the next 20-25 years (Morgan Stanley).
• Investor friendly policies and incentive based schemes.
• Second most attractive Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) location in the world: India received a total of US$ 25.9 billion of FDI in 2009-10.
• Healthy macro-economic fundamentals: Investment rate is expected to be 37% in 2010-11 and 38.4% in 2011-12 while Domestic Savings rate is expected to be 34% in 2010-11 and 36% in 2011-12.
• India's economy will grow fivefold in the next 20 years (McKinsey).
• Cost competitiveness; low labour costs.
• Total labour force of nearly 530 million.
• Large pool of skilled manpower; strong knowledge base with significant English speaking population.
• Young country with a median age of 30 years by 2025: India's economy will benefit from this "demographic dividend".
• The proportion of population in the working age group (15-59 years) is likely to increase from approximately 58% in 2001 to more than 64% by 2021.
• Huge untapped market potential.
• The urban population of India will double from the 2001 census figure of 290m to approximately 590m by 2030 (McKinsey).
• Progressive simplification and rationalization of direct and indirect tax structures.
• Reduction in import tariffs.
• Full current account convertibility.
• Compliance with WTO norms.
• Robust banking and financial institutions.

"* India's financial year is from April to March. 2010-11 above means April 2010-March 2011."

Indian Economy

India has undergone a paradigm shift owing to its competitive stand in the world. The Indian economy is on a robust growth trajectory and boasts of a stable annual growth rate, rising foreign exchange reserves and booming capital markets among others.

Indian economy is estimated to grow at 8.5 percent in 2010-11 as compared to the growth rate of 8.0 percent in 2009-10. These GDP figures are based at factor cost at constant (2004-05) prices in the year 2010-11. A growth rate of 19.1 percent is estimated for GDP at current prices in the year 2010-11.

Agriculture Sector

According to the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC), agriculture sector has showed an upward revision as compared to their previous estimates in the production of wheat (84.27 million tonnes from 81.47 million tonnes), pulses (17.29 million tonnes from 16.51 million tonnes), oilseeds (302.51 lakh tonnes from 278.48 lakh tonnes) and sugarcane (340.54 million tonnes from 336.70 million tonnes) during 2010-11. Due to this upward revision in the production, agriculture, forestry and fishing sector in 2010-11 has shown a growth rate of 6.6 per cent, as against the previous growth rate of 5.4 per cent.

Industry Sector

Similarly, the IIP of manufacturing registered a growth rate of 8.1 per cent during 2010- 11, as against the growth rate of 10 per cent during April-November, 2010. Due to this decrease in the IIP, the growth rate in GDP of manufacturing sector is now estimated at 8.3 per cent, as against the Advance Estimates growth rate of 8.8 per cent.

Services Sector

The community, social and personal services sector has shown a rise in growth rate to 7.0 per cent in the Revised Estimates, as against the growth rate of 5.7 per cent in the Advance Estimates, mainly due to rise in total expenditure of Central Government than anticipated (during April-December, 2010, the total expenditure of Central Government showed an increase of 11.2 per cent over the corresponding period of previous year which was extrapolated in the Advance Estimates, whereas the Revised Estimates, 2010-11 showed a rise of 19.4 per cent
during 2010-11).