Location : South Asia
Area : 3.29 million square kilometers
Land : 2.98 million sq km
Water: 0.31 million sq
Climate : varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north
Population : 1,027 million (2001)
Population Growth rate: 2.14%
Population Density : 324 persons/sq km
Life Expectancy : 62 years, male: 64 years, female
Literacy Rate : 65.38 %
Languages Spoken: India is a multilingual society with 18 principal languages recognised by the Constitution. Hindi is the language of a large percentage of people(38%), while English is the preferred business language.
Major Religions : Hindu, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism etc.
Government : Democratic, Parliamentary
Political System: The 1950 Constitution provides for a parliamentary system of Government with a bicameral parliament and three independent branches: the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. The country has a federal structure with elected Governments in States. There are 28 states and 7 Union Territories (administered directly by the central Governmnet).
International airports: New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Major Ports of Entry : Kolkata, Chennai, Kandla, Kochi, Mormugao, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Paradip, Tuticorin, Haldia and Vishakapatnam
Time Zone: GMT+ 5.5 hours
Currency : Indian Rupee

Stable democratic governance throughout 55 years of independence.

Large market of a middle class of 300-350 million people with increasing purchasing power reflected by a sustained growth in sales of consumer durables in recent years.

Access to regional international markets through membership of regional integration frameworks such as SAARC, Indian Ocean Rim Countries(IOC-ARC), and dialogue partnerships with EU and ASEAN.

Foreign investment is welcome in almost all sectors barring those of strategic concern like atomic energy, railways and sensitive defence production. Large and diversified infrastructure spread across the country .

Thrust on technology, innovation and knowledge base.

Well developed R&D infrastructure and technical and marketing services.

Large resources of untapped natural wealth

Promising future in the burgeoning information technology industry and biotechnology industries.

Developed banking system, commercial banking network of over 63,000 branches, supported by a number of national and state level financial institutions.

Vibrant capital market comprising 23 stock exchanges with over 9,000 listed companies.

Developing as one of the largest cost-competitive technical workforce nations.

Conducive foreign investment environment that provides freedom of entry, investment, location, choice of technology, import and export.

Acceleration of the privatisation process and restructuring of public enterprises.

Current account convertibility, capital account convertibility for foreign investors and progressive implementation for Indian residents.

Established, independent judiciary with a hierarchy of courts.

Special investment and tax incentives given for exports and certain sectors such as power, electronics, telecom, software, oil & Gas and research and development activities.

Legal protection for Intellectual Property Rights.

Import regime in conformity with WTO commitments - removal of remaining quantitative restrictions on imports of goods into India barring certain items on grounds of national security, defense and health.