Economic Outlook of India

India the sub-continent with 3,287,590 square kilometer area and 1,132,446,000 population (1.1+ billion as estimated in 2008) is a country dependent largely on agriculture for its income. The country has occupied the second position in the world in the estimation of total agricultural products per year. Along with agriculture the other main sectors developed after India�s independence in 1947 are industrial sectors, banking and finance as well as service sectors. However, after the adoption of the free market policy and economic liberalization around 1991, the country has augmented various other sectors like Information Technology, Business Process Outsourcing, Manufacturing, Telecommunication and Medical Tourism.

India�s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru along with Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobish, the famous statistician attempted to implement some measures of relaxation in privatisation of government�s role in streaming the economic activities. The first implementation of relaxation occurred around 1980 when the capacity expansion received revitalization. This resulted into effective measures in controlling price, depreciation of corporate duty and incumbent extension.

In 1991 the revolutionary change of economic policy has brought new outlook with foreign direct investment ending the era of public sectors� monopoly and license requirements for import, industrialization and investment. This has given birth to a mixed economy of capitalist and socialist features. The GDP multiplied with augmentation of development measures like food, shelter, security, literacy and life expectancy. The real gross domestic products increased from 200,000 crore rupees of 1950-51 to near about 1,400,000 crore rupees of 2001-02. Agricultural growth was from 2.5% in 1950s to 4.5% in 2002, while industrial sector increased from 3.9% to 6.4% and service sectors from 2.7% to 7.8%. This estimated the total growth rate from 3.5% to 5.9%.

However, along with this high development India still suffers from primary developmental problems. The distribution of capital is highly partial. The benefits of free market and foreign investment do not reach a large population. People are still behind poverty line with poor literacy rate. A slow market and slower growth rate are predicted to influence the Indian economical outlook in near future.

The educated Indian Diaspora and local population is now driving India into a prosperous Information Revolution age. There is now increased focused on Manufacturing Activities in India in order to support the local economies of states and localities. Make in India is the new Policy to transfer India into a Global Innovation and Industrial center.

Farming remains the primary means of income for many rural areas and is an extremely important industry that feeds the Indian populace. The recent measures to allow banking access to all farmers will ensure that farmers have access to cheaper capital and technology and that they do not fall into the clutches of compound interest charging money lenders. However, the conversations regarding Genetically Modified Food and Food Exports are still caught in the cross fire between Multi National Intellectual property premiums and Organic farmer movements, with Bt Cotton being the only exception.