India at a Glance

 India is one of the biggest countries with significant diversity. With a land area of 3,287,240 square km and a population of 1,178,732,000, India has abundant natural resources and a large labor pool to grow at a stupendous rate. Under Dr. Manmohan Singh’s leadership and the manifesting of the liberalization policy, the Indian economy has picked up steam and has been registering around 7% real growth every year. The economy was not severely impacted by the global recession of 2007-2009, as tight fiscal regulations kept credit crisis at bay.[br]

 India is one of the biggest countries with significant diversity. With a land area of 3,287,240 square km and a population of 1,178,732,000, India has abundant natural resources and a large labor pool to grow at a stupendous rate. Under Dr. Manmohan Singh’s leadership and the manifesting of the liberalization policy, the Indian economy has picked up steam and has been registering around 7% real growth every year. The economy was not severely impacted by the global recession of 2007-2009, as tight fiscal regulations kept credit crisis at bay.[br]

The issues weighing down on the Indian economy are its unemployment rate and a rather constant poverty rate. The unemployment rate grew in 2009 to 10.7% from 10.4% in 2008 and almost 25% of the population lives under the poverty line. In order to combat this, the Indian administration is keen on encouraging privatization and improving the employment scenario. Privatization will also attract FDI that can help in structural improvements and thus trigger growth.

India At A Glance: The Right Place For FDI

Be it Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) or Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), ever since India opened up its economy to the world, a plethora of investors have come up, in a bid to tap the huge potential of the market. FDI has been flowing in at an exponential growth rate and FII has been around $10 billion from April-September 2009-2010. These investments have come from the primary market. The amount increased from $7.08 billion in 2006, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).[br]

 

The FDI, according to the 2009 figure, was $161.3 billion. Most of the FDI went toward the IT and ITeS sector. With BPOs preferring India as their favorite destination for operations, the English speaking population has contributed to the services sector even more. Besides generating jobs for the skilled workforce, it has broadened the consumer base and resulted in an increase in demand. Experts expect the Indian economy to be the world’s biggest economy by 2040.

However, for India to grow into a superpower, major infrastructural changes, along with socialistic programs that address issues such as poverty and unemployment, need to be implemented.