What is the current position of Indian economy?

Answer 1

India remains a poor country but a fast growing developing country. In the world there is great expectation that India will within a few decades become a developed country, an economic super power by growing rapid and consistently from now. So, foerigners are keenly investing in India to the extent they are allowed by the Govt. of India.. But at present India's position of the Indian economy is one of poor country with large population, low per capita income, high corruption, low quality of life, low productivity but with lot of potential that has just entered the path of high growth.

India ranks 3rd in tems of Gross Domestic Product (size of the economy) on purchasing power parity basis, after USA and China ( recent estimates are likely to show that the GDP figures for China and India have been overestimated whikle using the purchasing power parity method to the extent of 40%. This may imply that India's rank may go down to 4th or 5th, though China may still be 2nd.

However overall GDP size does nor rank India or China among developed countries because lot of poor people togther can have high total income but individually they are poor. India has a per capita income (per capita GDP) on puchasing power parity basis of abou $4,000 against about $ 8,000 against $ 42,000 for USA. In per capita terms India ranks 118th against China's rank of 86th and USA's 4th after Luxemberg, Ireland and Norway.

India ranks poorly interms of Economic Freedom Index, Competituievenes, Corruption, and Human Development Index. I had compiled some figures a year or 2 back which will show India's relative position vis-a-vis China and USA:

India USA China Other

Remittances 2005 % GDP 3.1 - 1.3

Bank Density 03-04

Branches/100sqkm 22 10 2

Branches/100k heads 6 31 1

Wage Manf Worker

$/hour 2004 1 23 1

Child labour1999-2004

%5-14 year working 15 - -

MacDonald Purchasing

Power Parity rate

Big Mac Price $ - 3.15 1.3

Executive Pay 2005

Total Rem $ mln. 0.25 2.1 0.23

FDI Inflows 2005

$Bln 7 - 60

Travel with no visa

No. of countries 25 130 20

Passport Cost 2005 $ 24 - 36

ICT Index

Score Max 10 4.7 9 6.2

Rank 86 4 56

IT Network Readiness 40 1 50

Rank 2005

Business Environment 2005-2010

EIU Score out of 10 6.1 8.8 6.2

Rank 2005 58 8 50

Quality of Living New Delhi NewYork Beijing

Rank 2006 of city 150 46 122

Impact of Scientific

Journals 0.59 4.74 0.4

Knowledge Index

1995 2.76 3.03

2005 2.51 4.21

Innovation Index

1995 3.51 3.94

2005 3.72 4.74

(Business Standard July 17, 2006)

Further comparisions are:

1. India has the second largest population, 28% less than China's population, but three and half times the population of US, the third largest.

2. India has three out of the 17 most populated cities in the world, each with the population in excess of one crore. US, Japan, China, Brazil and Argentina has two such cities each.

3.None of the Indian cities have a quality of life index higher than New York, the 12th city in the world in terms of quality of life.

4.China is the highest user of modern contraceptives, India is not in the list of 16 top users.

5.India has the 17th largest refugee population. Pakistan ranks 2nd, US 5th and China 9th. Number of Refugees in US is 2.6 times the number of Refugees in India.

6.U.K, USA and Germany lead in terms of asylum applications received from other nationalities. Among the nationalities seeking asylum in Industrialised countries, China ranks 4th and India 7th.

7.India is the 11th largest economy in terms of nominal GDP with the US, Japan, Germany, U.K. France and China ranked 1st to 6th. In terms of GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), India is the 4th largest after US, China and Japan. US nominal GDP is 20 times that of India.

8.US PPP - GDP is 4 times that of India. In terms of per capita GDP, US ranks 3rd/4th, but neither China nor India appear in the list of top 70 countries in terms of GDP per head, while countries like Poland, Chile, Croatia, Malta, Mauritius, Argentina, Taiwan do.

9.In terms of quality of life (as measured by Human Development Index), India and China do not appear in the list of top 60. US ranks 8th and United Kingdom 15th.

10. India and China do not appear in the list of top 40 countries in terms of economic freedom index and in terms of gender-related developlment index. US ranks 10th and 15th in terms of these two indices.

11. In terms of average annual economic growth rates, China ranked 1st during 1982-92 and 3rd during 1992-2002, India's rank being 22nd and 16th respectively.

12. In the list of largest exporters, US tops the list (13.59% of world exports) while China (4.13%) ranks 7th and India (0.88%) ranks 29th.

14. India ranks 9th in terms of foreign debt, China 2nd.

15. US is the largest donor of foreign aid, while China and India are the 5th and 6th largest recipients of foreign aid.

16. Value of Industrial output in India is the 12th largest (and China 3rd largest). US value of Industrial output is 17.5 times that of India and more than 3 times that of China.

17. US has the largest service sector output. China ranks 8th and India 15th. US service sector output is more than 25 times that of India and 14 times that of China.

Production

18. India is the third largest producer of cereals after China and US.

19. Meat -- India is 6th, China 1st, US 2nd.

20. Fruit -- China 1st then India, US.

21. Vegetables - China 1st, then India and US

22. Wheat - China, India, Russia, US.

23. Rice - China, India

24. Sugar -- Brazil, India, China, US

25. Coarse grains - US, China

26. Tea - India, China

27. Coffee - India is 5th

28. Copper - US 3rd, China 8th

29. Lead -- China 2nd, Us 4rd.

30. Zinc -- China 1st, Us 5th

31. Aluminium - China 1st, US 4th, India 9th

32. Gold -- US 2nd, China 4th

33. Rubber -- US 2nd, China 4th, India 8th

34. Cotton -- China 1st, US 2nd, India 3rd

35. Oilseeds - US 1st, India 5th

36. Petroleum Oil - US 2nd, China 5th, India not in top 15

37. Natural Gas -- US 2nd , China & India not in top 15

38. Coal -- China 1st, US 2nd, India 4th

39. Energy Production -- US 1st, China 2nd, India 5th ,

Energy Consumption : US 1st, China 2nd, India 4th

US consumes 4 times energy that India consumes.

40. Percentage of population in labour force --

1st China (57.8%), 25th USA (49%), India is not in the list of top 40

41.Global competitiveness --

US (1), China 22nd, India 30th

42.Business Environment : 2004 -- 2008

US (4), China (38), India (40)

43.Innovation Index

US (1) - China and India does not occur in the list of top 44.

44.Information and Communication Technology Index --

US (5), India & China does not occur in the list of top 44.

45.Business Software Piracy --

Vietnam 1, China 2, Pakistan 6, India 15th.

46.Most corrupt - Bangladesh (1), Pakistan (39)

Least corrupt - US 19th, India and China not among least

47.Largest Business Corporations --

Top 3 in USA, 18 US in top 44, China and India not in top

48.Largest Banks : Top 2 in US, 9 US in top 45, China 25th & 37th - India does not occur in the list.

49.Largest Road Network - 1st US, 2nd India (half of US), China 4th

50. Highest car ownership - US 12th, UK 23rd, India & China does not figure in top 50. 51.Air travel (pass. Km. p.a.) - US (1st), China (4th), India 23rd, < 2% of US.

52. Longest Rail Network : US 1st, India 3rd, China 5th , US 4 times longer than India

53.Most Rail Freight : US (1st), China 3rd, India 4th,

US = 7 times Indian (tons -- km. p.a.)

54.Largest Merchant Shipping Fleet : US 3rd, China 5th, India 22nd

55.Tourist Arrivals : US 3rd, China 5th, India not in top 40.

56.Biggest Tourist Spenders : US (1st), China (9th), India not in top 20.

57.Least Literate : India among the 20 at the bottom.

58.Life Expectancy : US 37th (77.1 years), China and India not in the Top 50.

59.Hospital beds : US 47th, China 51st, India not inop 38.

60.Colour TV Ownership (per "000) : US 2nd, China and India not in top 50.

61.Telephone Lines : US 11th, China, India not in top 44

62.CD Player : US 16th, China, India not in top 29

63.Computer : US 2nd, China & India not in top 37.

64.Book Sales : US (1), China (6), India (13), US value nearly 40 times of India's or 10 times of China's.

65. Daily newspapers (copies/ 000) :US 15th, China and India not in top 30

66. Music Sales ($m) :US 1st, China 19th, India not in top 22.

67. Internet : US 1st, China & India not in top 23.

68. Nobel Peace Prize (nos.) : US tops, China & India not in top 13.

69. Economics Nobel1st, China and India not in top 4 with two or more prizes

70. Literature : US 2nd, China and India not in top 10

71. Physics : US 1st, China and India not in top 14.

72. Olympic Medal winners ( 1896 -- 2000) : US 1st, China 12th, India not in top 20.

73. Armed Forces : 1st China, 2nd US, 3rd India

74. China among the lowest Environment sustainability Index.

75.Most water polluting centers : China 1st, US 2nd, India 3rd

76.Largest Forest Area : US 4th, China 5th, India 11th.,

77.Largest Forest harvest (c.m.m) : US 1st, India 2nd and China 3rd.

78.Number of under threat : China 1st, India 6th, US 10th

Largest Consumers :

79. Wheat : China (1), India (2), US10th

80. Rice : China (1), India (2), US 10th

81. Sugar : India (1), China (3), US (4)

82. Coarse Grains : US(1), China (2), India (5)

83. Tea : India (1), China (2), US (8)

84. Coffee : US (1), China and India not in top 10

85. Copper : China (1), US (2), India not in top 10

86. Lead : US (1), China (2), India not in top 10

87. Zinc : China (1), US (2), India (8)

88. Aluminium : China (1), US(4), India (9)

89. Rubber : China (1), US (2), India (4)

90. Cotton : China (1), India (2), US (4)

91. Oil : US (1), China (2), India (7)

92. Natural Gas : US (1), China and India not in top 10

93. Coal : China (1), US (2), India (3)

94. Energy : US (1), China (2), India (4)