The Indus Valley civilization, one of the world's oldest, flourished during the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. and extended into northwestern India. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science, art, and culture. Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of 700 years. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the Delhi Sultanate. In the early 16th century, the Emperor BABUR established the Mughal Dynasty which ruled India for more than three centuries. European explorers began establishing footholds in India during the 16th century. By the 19th century, Great Britain had become the dominant political power on the subcontinent. The British Indian Army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British rule, led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU, eventually brought about independence in 1947. Communal violence led to the subcontinent's bloody partition, which resulted in the creation of two separate states, India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought three wars since independence, the last of which in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998 caused Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year. In November 2008, terrorists allegedly originating from Pakistan conducted a series of coordinated attacks in Mumbai, India's financial capital. Despite pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and widespread corruption, rapid economic development is fueling India's rise on the world stage. In January 2011, India assumed a nonpermanent seat in the UN Security Council for the 2011-12 term.

Location:
Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan Geographic coordinates:
20 00 N, 77 00 E
Map references:
Asia
Area: 
total: 3,287,263 sq km
country comparison to the world: 7
land: 2,973,193 sq km
water: 314,070 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly more than one-third the size of the US
Land boundaries:
total: 14,103 km
border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km
Coastline:
7,000 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
Climate:
varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north
Terrain: 
upland plain (Deccan Plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m
Natural resources:
coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, rare earth elements, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land
Land use:
arable land: 48.83%
permanent crops: 2.8%
other: 48.37% (2005)
Irrigated land:
622,860 sq km (2008)

Population:
1,339,000,000 (2017)
country comparison to the world: 2
Age structure:
0-14 years: 27.34% (male 186,087,665/female 164,398,204)
15-24 years: 17.9% (male 121,879,786/female 107,583,437)
25-54 years: 41.08% (male 271,744,709/female 254,834,569)
55-64 years: 7.45% (male 47,846,122/female 47,632,532)
65 years and over: 6.24% (male 37,837,801/female 42,091,086) (2017 est.)
Median age:
total: 27.1 years
male: 25.6 years
female: 26.9 years (2011 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.1% annual change (2017)
country comparison to the world: 86
Birth rate:
19.01 births/1,000 population (2016)
country comparison to the world: 84
Death rate:
7.48 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 117
Net migration rate:
-0.391 migrant(s)/1000 population
country comparison to the world: 118

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of India
conventional short form: India
local long form: Republic of India/Bharatiya Ganarajya
local short form: India/Bharat
Government type:
federal republic
Capital name: New Delhi
geographic coordinates: 28 36 N, 77 12 E
time difference: UTC+5.5 (10.5 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions:
28 states and 7 union territories*; Andaman and Nicobar Islands*, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh*, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli*, Daman and Diu*, Delhi*, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep*, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Puducherry*, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal
Independence:
15 August 1947 (from the UK)
National holiday:
Republic Day, 26 January (1950)
Constitution:
26 January 1950; amended many times

India is developing into an open-market economy, yet traces of its past autarkic policies remain. Economic liberalization, including industrial deregulation, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and reduced controls on foreign trade and investment, began in the early 1990s and has served to accelerate the country's growth, which has averaged more than 7% per year since 1997. India's diverse economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of services. Slightly more than half of the work force is in agriculture, but services are the major source of economic growth, accounting for more than half of India's output, with only 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 and software workers. In 2010, the Indian economy rebounded robustly from the global financial crisis - in large part because of strong domestic demand - and growth exceeded 8% year-on-year in real terms. Merchandise exports, which account for about 15% of GDP, returned to pre-financial crisis levels. An industrial expansion and high food prices, resulting from the combined effects of the weak 2009 monsoon and inefficiencies in the government's food distribution system, fueled inflation which peaked at about 11% in the first half of 2010, but has gradually decreased to single digits following a series of central bank interest rate hikes. In 2010 New Delhi reduced subsidies for fuel and fertilizers, sold a small percentage of its shares in some state-owned enterprises and auctioned off rights to radio bandwidth for 3G telecommunications in part to lower the government's deficit. The Indian Government seeks to reduce its budget deficit to 5.5% of GDP in FY 2010-11, down from 6.8% in the previous fiscal year. India's long term challenges include widespread poverty, inadequate physical and social infrastructure, limited non-agricultural employment opportunities, insufficient access to quality basic and higher education, and accommodating rural-to-urban migration.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$4.06 trillion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world:5
$3.447 trillion (2008 est.)
note: data are in 2010 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate):
$1.538 trillion (2010 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
10.4% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 5
6.8% (2009 est.)
6.2% (2008 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$3,500 (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 163
$3,200 (2009 est.)
$3,000 (2008 est.)
note: data are in 2010 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 16.1%
industry: 28.6%
services: 55.3% (2010 est.)

Telephones - main lines in use:
24.404 million (2016)
country comparison to the world: 8
Telephones - mobile cellular:
581 million
country comparison to the world: 2
Telephone system:general assessment: supported by recent deregulation and liberalization of telecommunications laws and policies, India has emerged as one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world; total telephone subscribership base reached 700 million, an overall teledensity of 60%, and subscribership is currently growing more than 15 million per month; urban teledensity has reached 100% and rural teledensity is about 20% and steadily growing

domestic: mobile cellular service introduced in 1994 and organized nationwide into four metropolitan areas and 19 telecom circles each with multiple private service providers and one or more state-owned service providers; in recent years significant trunk capacity added in the form of fiber-optic cable and one of the world's largest domestic satellite systems, the Indian National Satellite system (INSAT), with 6 satellites supporting 33,000 very small aperture terminals (VSAT)

international: country code - 91; a number of major international submarine cable systems, including Sea-Me-We-3 with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay), Sea-Me-We-4 with a landing site at Chennai, Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) with a landing site at Mumbai (Bombay), South Africa - Far East (SAFE) with a landing site at Cochin, the i2i cable network linking to Singapore with landing sites at Mumbai (Bombay) and Chennai (Madras), and Tata Indicom linking Singapore and Chennai (Madras), provide a significant increase in the bandwidth available for both voice and data traffic; satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); 9 gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata (Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, and Ernakulam (2010)

Broadcast media:
Doordarshan, India's public TV network, operates about 20 national, regional, and local services; large number of privately-owned TV stations are distributed by cable and satellite service providers; government controls AM radio with All India Radio operating domestic and external networks; news broadcasts via radio are limited to the All India Radio Network; since 2000, privately-owned FM stations are permitted but limited to broadcasting entertainment and educational content (2007)
Internet country code:
.in
Internet hosts:
4.536 million (2010)
country comparison to the world: 18
Internet users:
61.338 million (2009)
country comparison to the world: 6

Airports:
352 (2010)
country comparison to the world: 23
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 249
over 3,047 m: 21
2,438 to 3,047 m: 57
1,524 to 2,437 m: 75
914 to 1,523 m: 81
under 914 m: 15 (2010)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 103
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 8
914 to 1,523 m: 43
under 914 m: 48 (2010)
Heliports:
40 (2010)
Pipelines:
condensate/gas 2 km; gas 9,596 km; liquid petroleum gas 2,152 km; oil 7,448 km; refined products 10,486 km (2010)
Railways:
total: 63,974 km
country comparison to the world: 4
broad gauge: 54,257 km 1.676-m gauge (18,927 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 7,180 km 1.000-m gauge; 2,537 km 0.762-m gauge and 0.610-m gauge (2010)
Roadways:
total: 3,320,410 km (includes 200 km of expressways) (2009)
country comparison to the world: 3
Waterways:
14,500 km (5,200 km on major rivers and 485 km on canals suitable for mechanized vessels) (2008) country comparison to the world: 9
Merchant marine:
total: 324
country comparison to the world: 29
by type: bulk carrier 94, cargo 78, chemical tanker 23, container 15, liquefied gas 11, passenger 4, passenger/cargo 12, petroleum tanker 87
foreign-owned: 8 (China 1, Hong Kong 1, Jersey 1, Malaysia 1, UAE 4)
registered in other countries: 56 (Cyprus 2, Dominica 2, Liberia 1, Malta 4, Marshall Islands 8, Nigeria 1, Panama 17, Singapore 19, unknown 2) (2010)
Ports and terminals:
Chennai, Jawaharal Nehru, Kandla, Kolkata (Calcutta), Mumbai (Bombay), Sikka, Vishakhapatnam