Indian Economy Overview

Last Updated: December 2010

Agriculture
Agriculture is one of the strongholds of the Indian economy and accounts for 14.6 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in
!!"#1!$ and 1!.% per cent (pro&isional) of the total e'ports. (urthermore$ the sector pro&ided employment to )) per cent of the *or+ force.
India's agriculture and allied sector gre* ,y %.- per cent in the first si' months of the current fiscal (!1!#11). .apital in&estment in
agriculture has increased from /01 1. ,illion in !!2#!- to /01 %.6 ,illion in !1!#11 (inclusi&e of 0tate Plan 0cheme 3ashtriya 4rishi
5i+as 6o7ana)$ as per a 8inistry of Agriculture press release dated August %$ !1!.
In the /nion 9udget !1!#11$ the (inance 8inister$ 8r Prana, 8u+her7ee made the follo*ing announcements for the agriculture sector.
US$ 86.89 million is provided to increase the Green Revolution to the eastern region of the country comprising Bihar,
hattisgarh, !har"hand, #astern up, $est Bengal and %rissa.
US$ 6&.'( million has )een provided to organise 6*,*** pulses and oil+seed villages in rain+fed areas in ,*'*+'' and
provide an integrated intervention for -ater harvesting, -atershed management and soil health to improve productivitiy
of the dry land farming areas.
Ban"s have )een consistently meeting the targets set for agricultural credit flo- in the past fe- years. .or the year
,*'*+'', the target has )een set at US$ 8'./( )illion.
0n addition to the '* mega food par" pro1ects already )eing set up, the government has decided to set up five more
such par"s.
#2ternal commercial )orro-ings are availa)le for cold storage for preservation or storage of agricultural and allied
products, marine products and meat.
rowt! potential story
3he data centre services mar"et in the country is forecast to gro- at a compound annual gro-th rate 45GR6 of ,,.(
per cent )et-een ,**9 and ,*'', to touch close to US$ ,., )illion )y the end of ,*'', according to research firm 07
0ndia8s report pu)lished in 9arch ,*'*. 3he report further stated that the overall 0ndia data centre services mar"et in
,**9 -as estimated at US$ '.:9 )illion.
5ccording to a report )y research and advisory firm Gartner pu)lished in 9arch ,*'*, the domestic B;% mar"et is
e2pected to gro- at ,& per cent in ,*'* to touch US$ '., )illion )y ,*''. .urther, the B;% mar"et in 0ndia is estimated
to gro- '9 per cent through ,*': and gro- to US$ '.8 )illion )y ,*':. 5ccording to the report, the domestic 0ndia B;%
services mar"et gre- )y (.: per cent year+on+year in ,**9.
3he B90 0ndia Retail Report <uarter :, ,*'* released in 9ay ,*'*, forecasts that total retail sales -ill gro- from US$
:&: )illion in ,*'* to US$ &/:., )illion )y ,*'/.
5ccording to a report titled =0ndia ,*,*> Seeing, Beyond=, pu)lished )y domestic )ro"ing ma1or, #del-eiss apital in
9arch ,*'*, stated that 0ndia=s G7; is set to ?uadruple over the ne2t ten years and the country is li"ely to )ecome an
over US$ / trillion economy )y ,*,*.
0ndia -ill overta"e hina to )ecome the -orld=s fastest gro-ing economy )y ,*'8, according to the #conomist
0ntelligence Unit 4#0U6, the research arm of @ondon+)ased #conomist magaAine.