Market Briefing – India

India International Trade Fair (IITF)	The Taj Mahal – the world famous tourist spot	IDEM India Exhibition and Conference

Overall Economic Situation:
India is the biggest country in southern Asia; it is surrounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east,the Arabian Sea in the west and the Indian Ocean in the south. It is bordered by Bangladesh in the east, Pakistan in the west, Nepal in the north-east, China in the north-east and Sri Lanka in the south, which is separated by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Straits. Also a part of India is the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and the Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.

After independence the agriculture and industry have been developing rapidly developing. The country can support itself with the grain that it grows during food shortages and industry has been formed into an integrated system so that of self-sufficiency becomes higher. Since the 1990’s, the service industry has also developed rapidly and the percentage of the gross domestic product has been increasing annually. India is a major exporter of software, finance and other service industries. Natural resources are abundant with the country having over 100 kinds of mineral reserves. Mica is the most plentiful, while coal and barite rank third. Forest coverage is 678,300 square kilometres with timber accounting for 20.64%.

Business Opportunities:
Service Industry
The service industry developed quickly from 1998 to 2006 and it grew by 10.8% during fiscal year 2007 to 2008, accounting for 55.6% of the gross domestic product. The development of the transportation and communication and construction industries also developed rapidly, with an average annual growth rate from 15.3% to 12.9% respectively in 15 years. The financial industry grew by 9.5% in the same period and 9.5% from 2008 to 2009.

Industry
Major industries include textiles, food processing, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, steel, cement, mining, oil and machinery. New industries have been developed rapidly in recent years such as the automotive industry, electrical product processing and aerospace to name a few.

Tourism
The government is focusing on the development of tourism, which is also a major employer with over 20 million working in the field. With the increasing numbers of inbound tourist arrivals annually, the income from tourism has risen steadily. It hosted 5.23 million foreign tourists from 2007 to 2008 and income reached US$10.7 billion, up 13%. Agra, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Nalanda, and Trivandrum are the main tourist destinations.

Source: CIA- The World Fact Book-India, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

Major Export Commodities: petroleum products, textile goods, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufacturing

Main Import Commodities: crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, chemicals
Source: CIA-The World Fact Book- India, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
Index Mundi-Country Facts, http://indexmundi.com/

Source: The Statistics and Census Service, http://www.dsec.gov.mo/

Major Website Recommendations :

National Institute of statistics, India
http://www.mospi.gov.in/
As the official statistics agency of the government, the National Institute of Statistics of India is in charge of the production and provision of quality statistical data.

India (official government portal)
http://india.gov.in/

Source:
1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/chn/default.htm
2. The Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China
http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/
3. The Economic and Commercial Consular’s Office of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the India
http://in.mofcom.gov.cn/index.shtml
4. Macao Statistics and Census Service
http://www.dsec.gov.mo/c_index.html
5. The World Factbook
http://www.cia.gov/