page_title: Economic history of India
section_title: Capitalist Boom (1990–2010)
hierarchical_section_title: Economic history of India / Republic of India / Capitalist Boom (1990–2010)
caption_attribution_description: English: An Indian call center
context_page_description: The economic history of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilisation, whose economy appears to have depended significantly on trade and examples of overseas trade. The Vedic period saw countable units of precious metal being used for exchange. The term Nishka appears in this sense in the Rigveda. Historically, India was the largest economy in the world for most of the next three millennia, starting around the 1st millennia BCE and ending around the beginning of British Raj.
  Around 600 BCE, the Mahajanapadas minted punch-marked silver coins. The period was marked by intensive trade activity and urban development. By 300 BCE, the Maurya Empire had united most of the Indian subcontinent. The resulting political unity and military security allowed for a common economic system and enhanced trade and commerce, with increased agricultural productivity.
  The Maurya Empire was followed by classical and early medieval kingdoms, including the Cholas, Guptas, Western Gangas, Harsha, Palas, Rashtrakutas and Hoysalas.
context_section_description: Economic liberalisation in India in the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century led to large economic changes.
  About one-fourth of the national population was urban by 2000.
  The Indian steel industry began expanding into Europe in the 21st century. In January 2007 India's Tata bought European steel maker Corus Group for $11.3 billion. In 2006 Mittal Steel (based in London but with Indian management) acquired Arcelor for $34.3 billion to become the world's biggest steel maker, ArcelorMittal, with 10% of world output.
  The GDP of India in 2007 was estimated at about 8 percent that of the US. The government started the Golden Quadrilateral road network connecting Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata with various Indian regions. The project, completed in January 2012, was the most ambitious infrastructure project of independent India.
  The top 3% of the population still earn 50% of GDP.
caption: Service markets which would enjoy much lighter burden of regulation and other obstacles became more successful than still regulated sectors. For example, world-famous business process services are very lightly regulated.[19]
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY ERICSSON", "Image Model": "SONY ERICSSON P900", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2010:06:14 11:12:45", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "280", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "518", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7832", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:05:19 18:31:23", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:05:19 18:31:23", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "480", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "640"}