India

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the world's oldest, flourished during the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C. and extended into northwestern India. Aryan tribes from the northwest infiltrated onto the Indian subcontinent about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier Dravidian inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. The Maurya Empire of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. - which reached its zenith under ASHOKA - united much of South Asia. The Golden Age ushered in by the Gupta dynasty (4th to 6th centuries A.D.) saw a flowering of Indian science, art, and culture. Islam spread across the subcontinent over a period of 700 years. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established the Delhi Sultanate. In the early 16th century, the Emperor BABUR established the Mughal Dynasty which ruled India for more than three centuries. European explorers began establishing footholds in India during the 16th century. By the 19th century, Great Britain had become the dominant political power on the subcontinent. The British Indian Army played a vital role in both World Wars. Nonviolent resistance to British rule, led by Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU, eventually brought about independence in 1947. Communal violence led to the subcontinent's bloody partition, which resulted in the creation of two separate states, India and Pakistan. The two countries have fought three wars since independence, the last of which in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998 caused Pakistan to conduct its own tests that same year. In November 2008, terrorists allegedly originating from Pakistan conducted a series of coordinated attacks in Mumbai, India's financial capital. Despite pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and widespread corruption, rapid economic development is fueling India's rise on the world stage.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Indian rupee (ISO code: INR)
* Central bank discount rate: 4.75% (9 December 2009)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 11% (31 December 2009 est.)
* Stock of money (M1): $278.8 billion (31 December 2009)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $853.4 billion (31 December 2009)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "India: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	450 476	460 182	477 849	507 190	599 461	700 921	810 151	914 892	1 176 890	1 159 170
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "India: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	52.306 	55.987 	59.958 	63.523 	63.046 	63.327 	63.014 	61.480 	61.334 	57.555
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "India: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30. 	11.920 	11.913 	11.216 	11.774 	12.016 	12.225 	12.491 	13.721 	14.652 	14.993
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "India: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.	15.079 	15.686 	15.793 	16.302 	15.792 	15.311 	15.366 	15.651 	16.010 	16.168
Debt to revenue (years) 	4.388 	4.700 	5.346 	5.395 	5.247 	5.180 	5.045 	4.481 	4.186 	3.839
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* India on Wikipedia
* Central bank of India
* Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
* BBC country profile
* Colgate Accused of Stealing Thousand-Year-Old Toothpaste, October 2010
* In slums of India, toilets lag cell plans by Ravi Nessman, November 2010
* Gold: India’s Capital Asset through History by Ganesh Rathnam, October 2009
* The Henry Ford of Heart Surgery by Geeta Anand, November 2009
* Farmers' gold sales may crimp imports by Sunil Nair, May 2010
Category:Countries