A New Era

Though agriculture has been the main preoccupation of the bulk of the Indian population, the founding fathers saw India becoming a prosperous and modern State with a good industrial base. Programmes were formulated to build an adequate infrastructure for rapid industrialisation.

Since independence, India has achieved a good measure of self-sufficiency in manufacturing a variety of basic and capital goods. The output of the major industries includes aircraft, ships, cars, locomotives, heavy electrical machinery, construction equipment, power generation and transmission equipment, chemicals, precision instruments, communication equipment and computers.

Early planners in free India had to keep in mind two aims: all-round development and generation of large- scale job opportunities. Economic development strategies were evolved with an eye on these twin objectives.

New International Economic Order

As a responsible and progressive member of the international community, India is continuing her untiring efforts to bring about a constructive dialogue between the developed and developing countries in their quest for a cooperative approach towards a new international economic order. India is convinced that the establishment of an equitable international economic order involving structural and other changes is the only answer to the various economic ills and problems of development confronting the world today.

New International Economic Order

The international confidence in India's economy has been fully restored.

The reforms launched have made India an attractive place for investment. Duties have been lowered, repatriation of profit made liberal and levels of foreign equity raised considerably, 100 percent in case of export oriented industry.

While several multinational companies have entered the Indian market, some Indian companies have also begun to gain international recognition. In the field of computer software, India is among the major exporting nations with an overflow of scientists in the field.

The fourth WTO Ministerial Conference was held at Doha, Qatar from 9 to 14 November, 2001 to decide upon the future work programme of the WTO. While there were strong pressures to launch a comprehensive round of negotiations including multilateral regimes on investment, competition policy, trade facilitation, government procurement and environment, India was opposed to overburdening of the multilateral trading system with non-trade or new issues in the agenda. It felt that WTO already had a sufficiently large agenda consisting of mandated negotiations and mandated reviews and, therefore, India underlined the need for resolving the implementation issues, arising from the current agreements in a time-bound manner before addressing new issues for negotiations. India played a proactive role in the deliberations at the fourth Ministerial Conference at Doha. The outcome of the conference takes into account a number of concerns expressed by India.

Exports, on the BOP basis, grew by 19.6 per cent in US dollar terms in 2000-01, accelerating sharply from the 9.5 per cent growth in the previous year. Total imports recorded a moderate growth of 7.0 per cent during 2000-01, much lower than the sharp increase of 16.5 per cent in 1999-2000. The moderate growth in imports during 2000-01 was essentially attributable to a 24.1 per cent increase in the oil import bill. Non-oil import growth, on BOP basis, remained subdued at only 2.0 per cent.

NRIs

The government acknowledges the great role that the vast number of Indians living and working abroad, the NRIs, can play in accelerating the pace of development in the country. In the 1980s, the contribution of the NRIs through their remittances was instrumental to a large extent in stabilising the balance of payment situation. Several initiatives have been taken to attract NRI investments in industry, shares and debentures. The NRIs are allowed 100 per cent investment in 34 priority and infrastructure facilities on non-repatriation basis. Approval is given automatically on investment in certain technical collaborations. They can buy Indian Development Bonds and acquire or transfer any property in India without waiting for government approval. The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act has been amended to permit NRIs to deal in foreign currency and they can also bring in five kg of gold. There are programmes to utilise the scientific and technical talents of the NRIs with the help of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Infrastructure

In view of their crucial importance, power, transport and other infrastructure industries are owned by the State. As a result of special attention given to the area in recent years, the infrastructure industries have been growing at the rate of nine to ten per cent annually.       More �

Key Economic Sectors

The Indian Economy grew by 5.4 per cent in 2001-02, which is considered one of the highest growth rates in the world for the year. This growth is supported by a growth rate of 5.7 per cent in agriculture and allied sectors, 3.3 per cent in industry and 6.5 per cent in services.             More �

Research and Development

Research and Development activities are supported by the governments at the Centre and the states as well as by public and private sector undertakings. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research recognises over 1,200 in-house R&D units. About 200 research laboratories exist in government departments and agencies. The benefits of the R&D works are reaching various fields like industry, agriculture and commerce.

Traditional Industry

Indian handicrafts have withstood competition from machines over the years. The skills are passed on from one generation to the next. The handicraft and handloom sector is a major source of rural employment and earns substantial foreign exchange. Traditional textiles are as popular abroad as they are within the country. The major export items include hand-knotted carpets, art metalware, hand-printed textiles and leather, wood and cane wares.

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