October 2005 Indian Economy Statistics

Please note that we are not authorised to provide any investment advice. The content on this page is for information purposes only.


AGRICULTURE
Agriculture in India is the means of livelihood of almost two thirds of the workforce in the country. It employs nearly 62% of total population and 42% of total geographical area. It is therefore considered to be the most important sector of Indian Economy.

Indian agriculture in recent years-
In last four years India has been experiencing fluctuating food grains production but it have never witnessed such a steep fall as in 2002-03 when decline in food grains production is apprehended to be any where between 13-14%. Exports in Agricultural commodities like rice, coffee, raw cotton,cashew, pulses and fruits recorded substantial pick up in the wake of strong demand reflecting potential of Indian agriculture.

Monsoon season Rainfall: –
Major part of Indian agriculture depends upon monsoon. The monsoon season rainfall from June 1,2005 to July 20,2005 was normal /excess in 29 meteorological subdivisions (81 percent) and deficient/ scanty in the remaining 7(19 percent). A better monsoon season rainfall from June 1,2005 to July 20,2005 in comparison to annual average for 2000-04.

Procurement: –
Wheat procurement up to July 26,2005 in the current year (2005-06) was lower by 12.0 percent at 14.79 million tonnes compared with 16.80 million tonnes In the corresponding period of 2004-05.procurement of rice during the marketing Year 2004-05(upto july26, 2005) at 23.30 million tones was higher by 5.7% than The level of 22.05 million tones during the corresponding period of 2003-04.

OFF-TAKE: –
Off-take from public Distribution system from central pool during April-may, 2005 was 5.73 million tonnes, which was lower by 2.7 percent than the off-take Of 5.89 million tones during April-May, 2004.

STOCKS:
Stocks of food grains as on June 1,2005 was 27.33 million tonnes.which was lower by 13.6%than the level of 31.64 million tones as on June 1,2004

INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
Growth in Industrial sector in 2004-05 remained healthy. The Index of Industrial production (IIP) continues to grow at the rate 7 percent. The major element of the buoyancy in the industrial growth was the manufacturing sector with 80 percent of index of Industrial production.

The Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) with base 1993-94 for the month of August 2005 released by the Central Statistical Organization of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The General Index stands at 212.5, which is 7.4% higher as compared to the level in the month of August 2004.

The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of August 2005 stand at 140.1, 224.5, and 193.1 respectively, with the corresponding growths of (-) 1.3%, 8.2% and 7.8% as compared to August 2004. The cumulative growth during April-August, 2005-06 over the corresponding period of 2004-05 in the three sectors have been 2.0%, 9.8% and 5.9% respectively, with the overall growth being 8.8%.

As many as 13industry groups have shown positive growth during the month of August 2005 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. ‘Other Manufacturing Industries’ have shown the highest growth of 24.6%, followed by 21.1% in ‘Basic Metal and Alloy Industries’ and 14.7% in ‘Textile Products (including Wearing Apparel)’. On the other hand, ‘Metal Products and Parts, except Machinery and Equipment’ have shown a negative growth of 5.2% followed by a decline of 4.7% in ‘Wool, Silk and Man-made Fibre Textiles’ and 1.0% in Leather and Fur products.

SERVICE SECTOR

Service sector accounts more than half of India’s Gross Domestic Product. The rise in service sector’s share in GDP marks a structural change. Reason for high growth rate in service sector in India is liberalization in regulatory framework. That gives rise to innovation and high export earnings. The growth rate of India’s service exports in 2002 was 8% with regards to 5% Worldwide. India is ranked 21st among exporters of services.

India is a signatory to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (WTO-1995) and is actively engaged in seeking full opportunities for free movement of services across borders.

Keeping in view the growing dimensions with structural shifts the Government of India has given special status to the services sector in its Export-Import Policy 2002-2007 announced on 31st March 2002. It included all the 161 tradable services covered under the head “Services” where payment for them is received in free foreign exchange.


A “Service Provider”, according to the Exim Policy, means a person providing:

i. ‘Service’ from India to any other country;
ii. `Service’ from India to the service consumer of any other country in India;
iii. `service’ from India through commercial or physical presence in the territory of any other country; and
iv. Supply of a ‘service’ in India relating to exports paid in free foreign exchange or in Indian Rupee, which are otherwise considered as having been paid for in free foreign exchange by RBI.

India’S IT Market reached a turn over of US$ 16.2 billion in 2004-05. The IT Sector employs 697,000 people and this is likely to reach 2 million by 2014. IT Companies are expected to account for 8-10% of GDP by 2008 from 1.4% in 2001. India is considered as a global player in Information Technology with software exports of US Dollars12 billion in 2003-2004 and $ 17.2 billion in 2004-2005. The revenue from exports of IT and related services is expected to reach US$ 57 billion by 2008.

Outsourcing Industry has changed the image of India. Western companies are continuing to eye India as their top destination for outsourcing work. Rapid increase in the profits of several Indian outsource service providers including two of top companies like Tata consultancy services and Infosys Technology.Mumbai based Tcs has risen by 20.5% and bangalore based Infosys recorded a 36% rise.

The BPO Sector has been growing at 60-70% annually and its turnover in 2004-05 reached US$5.8 billion from US$565 million in 1999-00. It is projected to increase to US$ 12.3 billion by 2006 and create employment opportunities for a million people from its current level of 200,000.

India’s Consultancy Professionals possess capability and capacity to provide expertise especially suitable for developing countries. In addition it also offers consultancy in sophisticated areas like information technology, advanced financial and banking services etc.to developed countries like USA, UK, France, West Germany and Australia..

Expertise offered by Indian consultancy professionals covers areas like infrastructure, Economic& Social Sector, Water Resource Dam, Flood Controll, Irrigation, Rural Development, Environment, Industries, Computer, Training of personnel and transfer technology etc.

India’s health services (with highly qualified and experienced personnel), super-specialty hospitals specializing in both modern and traditional Indian medical systems (like Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and nature- cure) supported by state-of-the-art equipment, are attracting patients from across the world, and constitute a larger portion in India’s services sector.

Education is another field which is not only a huge segment of the services sector within the country, but also a foreign exchange earner by way of NRIs and foreign students enrolled in major medical, technological and other institutions in India. We also export manpower even to the western world. The demand for teachers from India has started growing in the United States and England in recent times.

India is a subcontinent with varied geographical, climatic, ethnic, cultural, religious and social condition. So it is a top destination for any tourist .The tourism industry in the country is well equipped and also growing very fast to offer tourists all the services needed for making their visit memorable.

India has young population of nearly 37% among total population. Using them in service sectors where immense opportunities are present can be better rewarded. The government should step forward for availing these facilities for the enhancement of service sector, which will act as a boost to Indian economy.

About EconomyWatch PRO INVESTOR

The core Content Team our economy, industry, investing and personal finance reference articles.