India Economy - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Economic overview

India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Slightly less than half of the workforce is in agriculture, but services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for nearly two-thirds of India's output but employing less than one-third of its labor force. India has capitalized on its large educated English-speaking population to become a major exporter of information technology services, business outsourcing services, and software workers. Nevertheless, per capita income remains below the world average. India is developing into an open-market economy, yet traces of its past autarkic policies remain. Economic liberalization measures, including industrial deregulation, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and reduced controls on foreign trade and investment, began in the early 1990s and served to accelerate the country's growth, which averaged nearly 7% per year from 1997 to 2017.

 

India's economic growth slowed in 2011 because of a decline in investment caused by high interest rates, rising inflation, and investor pessimism about the government's commitment to further economic reforms and about slow world growth. Investors’ perceptions of India improved in early 2014, due to a reduction of the current account deficit and expectations of post-election economic reform, resulting in a surge of inbound capital flows and stabilization of the rupee. Growth rebounded in 2014 through 2016. Despite a high growth rate compared to the rest of the world, India’s government-owned banks faced mounting bad debt, resulting in low credit growth. Rising macroeconomic imbalances in India and improving economic conditions in Western countries led investors to shift capital away from India, prompting a sharp depreciation of the rupee through 2016.

 

The economy slowed again in 2017, due to shocks of "demonetizaton" in 2016 and introduction of GST in 2017. Since the election, the government has passed an important goods and services tax bill and raised foreign direct investment caps in some sectors, but most economic reforms have focused on administrative and governance changes, largely because the ruling party remains a minority in India’s upper house of Parliament, which must approve most bills.

 

India has a young population and corresponding low dependency ratio, healthy savings and investment rates, and is increasing integration into the global economy. However, long-term challenges remain significant, including: India's discrimination against women and girls, an inefficient power generation and distribution system, ineffective enforcement of intellectual property rights, decades-long civil litigation dockets, inadequate transport and agricultural infrastructure, limited non-agricultural employment opportunities, high spending and poorly targeted subsidies, inadequate availability of quality basic and higher education, and accommodating rural-to-urban migration.

Real GDP (purchasing power parity)

$8.443 trillion (2020 est.)

$9.174 trillion (2019 est.)

$8.817 trillion (2018 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

Real GDP growth rate

4.86% (2019 est.)

6.78% (2018 est.)

6.55% (2017 est.)

Real GDP per capita

$6,100 (2020 est.)

$6,700 (2019 est.)

$6,500 (2018 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

GDP (official exchange rate)

$2.836 trillion (2019 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

3.7% (2019 est.)

3.9% (2018 est.)

3.3% (2017 est.)

Credit ratings

Fitch rating: BBB- (2006)

Moody's rating: Baa3 (2020)

Standard & Poors rating: BBB- (2007)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

GDP - composition, by sector of origin

agriculture: 15.4% (2016 est.)

industry: 23% (2016 est.)

services: 61.5% (2016 est.)

GDP - composition, by end use

household consumption: 59.1% (2017 est.)

government consumption: 11.5% (2017 est.)

investment in fixed capital: 28.5% (2017 est.)

investment in inventories: 3.9% (2017 est.)

exports of goods and services: 19.1% (2017 est.)

imports of goods and services: -22% (2017 est.)

Agricultural products

sugar cane, rice, wheat, buffalo milk, milk, potatoes, vegetables, bananas, maize, mangoes/guavas

Industries

textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software, pharmaceuticals

Industrial production growth rate

5.5% (2017 est.)

Labor force

521.9 million (2017 est.)

Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 47%

industry: 22%

services: 31% (FY 2014 est.)

Unemployment rate

8.5% (2017 est.)

8.5% (2016 est.)

Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)

total: 19.8%

male: 19.5%

female: 21% (2020 est.)

Population below poverty line

21.9% (2011 est.)

Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income

35.7 (2011 est.)

37.8 (1997)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 3.6%

highest 10%: 29.8% (2011)

Budget

revenues: 238.2 billion (2017 est.)

expenditures: 329 billion (2017 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

-3.5% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Public debt

71.2% of GDP (2017 est.)

69.5% of GDP (2016 est.)

note: data cover central government debt, and exclude debt instruments issued (or owned) by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data exclude debt issued by subnational entities, as well as intragovernmental debt; intragovernmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds, such as for retirement, medical care, and unemployment; debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions

Taxes and other revenues

9.2% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

Fiscal year

1 April - 31 March

Current account balance

-$29.748 billion (2019 est.)

-$65.939 billion (2018 est.)

Exports

$484.95 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$546.03 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$537.04 billion (2018 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

Exports - partners

United States 17%, United Arab Emirates 9%, China 5% (2019)

Exports - commodities

refined petroleum, diamonds, packaged medicines, jewelry, cars (2019)

Imports

$493.18 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$619.48 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$642.96 billion (2018 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

Imports - partners

China 15%, United States 7%, United Arab Emirates 6%, Saudi Arabia 5% (2019)

Imports - commodities

crude petroleum, gold, coal, diamonds, natural gas (2019)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$409.8 billion (31 December 2017 est.)

$359.7 billion (31 December 2016 est.)

Debt - external

$555.388 billion (2019 est.)

$518.34 billion (2018 est.)

Exchange rates

Indian rupees (INR) per US dollar -

73.565 (2020 est.)

71.05 (2019 est.)

70.7675 (2018 est.)

64.152 (2014 est.)

61.03 (2013 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding India on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of India 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about India 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.