est.)

Debt - external:
$132.1 billion (30 June 2006 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$2.9 billion (FY98/99)

Currency (code):
Indian rupee (INR)

Currency code:
INR

Exchange rates:
Indian rupees per US dollar - 45.5 (2006), 44.101 (2005), 45.317
(2004), 46.583 (2003), 48.61 (2002)

Fiscal year:
1 April - 31 March

Communications India

Telephones - main lines in use:
49.75 million (2005)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
69,193,321 (2006)

Telephone system:
general assessment: recent deregulation and liberalization of
telecommunications laws and policies have prompted rapid growth;
local and long distance service provided throughout all regions of
the country, with services primarily concentrated in the urban
areas; steady improvement is taking place with the recent admission
of private and private-public investors, but telephone density
remains low at about ten for each 100 persons nationwide and only
one per 100 persons in rural areas; there remains a national waiting
list of over 1.7 million; fastest growth is in cellular service with
modest growth in fixed lines
domestic: expansion of domestic service, although still weak in
rural areas, resulted from increased competition and dramatic
reductions in price led in large part by wireless service; mobile
cellular service (both CDMA and GSM) introduced in 1994 and
organized nationwide into four metropolitan cities and 19 telecom
circles each with about three private service providers and one
state-owned service provider; 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 six satellites supporting 33,000 very
small aperture terminals (VSAT)
international: country code - 91; nine satellite earth stations - 8
Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region); nine
gateway exchanges operating from Mumbai (Bombay), New Delhi, Kolkata
(Calcutta), Chennai (Madras), Jalandhar, Kanpur, Gandhinagar,
Hyderabad, and Ernakulam; 6 submarine cables, including Sea-Me-We-3
with landing sites at Cochin and Mumbai (Bombay), Sea-Me-We-4 with
landing site at Chennai, Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG)
with landing site at Mumbai (Bombay), South Africa - Far East (SAFE)
with landing site at Cochin, i2icn linking to Singapore with landing