The Economy of India is the seventh-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). The country is one of the G-20 major economies, a member of BRICS and a developing economy among the top 20 global traders according to the WTO. According to the Indian Finance Ministry the annual growth rate of the Indian economy is projected to have increased to 7.4% in 2014-15 as compared with 6.9% in the fiscal year 2013-14. In an annual report, the IMF forecast that the Indian Economy would grow by 7.5% percent in the 2015-16 fiscal year starting on April 1, 2015, up from 7.2% (2014–15).[30][31] India was the 19th-largest merchandise and the 6th largest services exporter in the world in 2013; it imported a total of $616.7 billion worth of merchandise and services in 2013, as the 12th-largest merchandise and 7th largest services importer.[32] The agricultural sector is the largest employer in India's economy but contributes a declining share of its GDP (13.7% in 2012-13).[6] Its manufacturing industry has held a constant share of its economic contribution, while the fastest-growing part of the economy has been its services sector — which includes, among others, the construction, telecommunications, software and information technologies, infrastructure, tourism, education, health care, travel, trade, and banking industries.[7] The post independence-era Indian economy (from 1947 to 1991) was a mixed economy with an inward-looking, centrally planned, interventionist policies and import-substituting economic model that failed to take advantage of the post-war expansion of trade and that nationalized many sectors of its economy.[33] India's share of global trade fell from 1.3% in 1953 to 0.5% in 1983.[34] This model contributed to widespread inefficiencies and corruption, and it was poorly implemented.[35] After a fiscal crisis in 1991, India has increasingly adopted free-market principles and liberalised its economy to international trade. These reforms were started by former Finance minister Manmohan Singh under the guidance of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. They eliminated much of Licence Raj, a pre- and post-British era mechanism of strict government controls on setting up new industry. Following these economic reforms, and a strong focus on developing national infrastructure such as the Golden Quadrilateral project by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the country's economic growth progressed at a rapid pace, with relatively large increases in per-capita incomes.[36] The south western state of Maharashtra contributes the highest towards India's GDP among all states, while Bihar is among its poorest states in terms of GNI per capita. Mumbai, Maharashtra is known as the trade and financial capital of India. The combination of protectionist, import-substitution, Fabian socialism, social democratic-inspired policies governed India for sometime after the end of British occupation. The economy was then characterised by extensive regulation, protectionism, public ownership of large monopolies, pervasive corruption and slow growth.[38][39] Since 1991, continuing economic liberalisation has moved the country towards a market-based economy.[38][39] By 2008, India had established itself as one of the world's faster-growing economies. Growth significantly slowed to 6.8% in 2008–09, but subsequently recovered to 7.4% in 2009–10, while the fiscal deficit rose from 5.9% to a high 6.5% during the same period.[40] India's current account deficit surged to 4.1% of GDP during Q2 FY11 against 3.2% the previous quarter. The unemployment rate for 2012–13, according to Government of India's Labour Bureau, was 4.7% nationwide, by UPS method;[12] and 3% by NSSO method.[13] India's consumer price inflation has ranged between 8.9 to 12% over the 2009-2013 period. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_India Image By http://www.bollywoodhungama.com [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

• published: 01 Jul 2015
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