ortation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery

Industrial production growth rate: 11.2% (1996)

Electricity - capacity: 83.288 million kW 1996)

Electricity - production: 380 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 419 kWh (1995)

Agriculture - products: rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea,
sugarcane, potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats, poultry;
fish catch of about 3 million metric tons ranks India among the
world's top 10 fishing nations

Exports:
total value : $30.5 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities: clothing, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals,
leather manufactures, cotton yarn, and fabric
partners: US, Japan, Germany, UK, Hong Kong

Imports:
total value: $34.5 billion (c.i.f., 1995)
commodities: crude oil and petroleum products, machinery, gems,
fertilizer, chemicals
partners: US, Germany, Saudi Arabia, UK, Belgium, Japan

Debt - external: $97.9 billion (March 1995)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $1.237 billion (1993); US ODA bilateral commitments
$171 million; US Ex-Im bilateral commitments $680 million; Western
(non-US) countries, ODA bilateral commitments $2.48 billion; OPEC
bilateral aid $200 million; World Bank (IBRD) multilateral commitments
$2.8 billion; Asian Development Bank (AsDB) multilateral commitments
$760 million; International Finance Corporation (IFC) multilateral
commitments $200 million; other multilateral commitments $554 million
(1995-96)

Currency: 1 Indian rupee (Re) = 100 paise

Exchange rates: Indian rupees (Rs) per US$1 - 35.872 (January 1997),
35.433 (1996), 32.427 (1995), 31.374 (1994), 30.493 (1993), 25.918
(1992)

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

@India:Communications

Telephones: 9.8 million (1995)

Telephone system: probably the least adequate telephone system of any
of the industrializing countries; three of every four villages have no
telephone service; only 5% of India's villages have long-distance
service; poor telephone service significantly impedes commercial and
industrial growth and penalizes India in global markets; slow
improvement is taking place with the recent admission of private and
private-public investors, but demand for communication services is
also growing rapidly
domestic : local service is provided mostly by open wire and obsolete
electromechanical and manual switchboard systems; within the last 10
years a substantial amount of digital switch gear has been introduced
for local servi