Problems and Issues Facing
India
Major problems & Issues
in India today
 Overpopulation  1 billion &
climbing.
 Economic development.
 Hindu-Muslim tensions.
 Gender issues  dowry killings.
 Caste bias  discrimination
against untouchables continues.
 The Kashmir dispute and nuclear
weapons.
 Political assassinations.
India and the Subcontinent
• Conflict over Kashmir – India & Pakistan
– Irrigation
– Pride
• Nuclear Weapons – India & Pakistan
• Flood control – India & Bangladesh
• Humanitarian Aid – India & Bangladesh
Urbanization and Poverty
Daily life in India is centered around cities, villages, and
religion.
Cities
Villages
• Two largest cities—
Mumbai
(Bombay) and
Kolkata
(Calcutta)
• Most Indians live in
rural areas.
• Plays a key role in
Indian daily life
• Most villagers work
as farmers and live
with an extended
family.
• Most practice
Hinduism.
• Bangalore and
Mumbai—
universities,
research centers,
and high-tech
businesses
• Most people
struggle to earn a
living in the cities.
• Paved roads and
electricity have
only recently
reached many
Indian villages.
Religion
• Many follow other
religions (Islam,
Buddhism, etc.).
• Millions practice
Sikhism and
Jainism.
• Religious
celebrations are
important.
2
Daily Life
•
•
•
About 7 out of 10 Indians
live in villages and farm for
a living.
Houses belonging to more
prosperous families in a
village are made of better
materials than those of
poorer villagers, most of
which include only a
charpoy, or wooden bed
frame with knotted string
in place of a mattress.
For religious and
economic reasons,
Indians follow a mostly
vegetarian diet, and most
Indians eat some form of
rice every day.
70% Rural
600,000 villages
Poverty Abounds
Four of every ten people in India struggle to
live on the equivalent of less than $1.25 /day
Comparative Statistics for Selected Countries in South Asia
% Arable
Land
Pop.
Density
/km
GDP PPP
% Literate
Life Exp.
Poverty
Rate
India
49%
392
$2,800
61%
70 yrs
25%
Pakistan
24%
199
$2,600
50%
65 yrs
24%
Nepal
16%
226
$1,700
49%
65 yrs
31%
Bangladesh
55%
1165
$1,500
43%
60 yrs
45%
Poverty is a tremendous problem in South Asia
Consider these indicators of poverty for the countries of South Asia
Today India faces many challenges, including a growing
population and economic development.
Population
• India is the world’s second most populous country.
• India’s huge population places a strain on India’s environment and
resources.
• Urbanization is taking place. Urbanization is the increase in the
percentage of people who live in cities.
Urbanization trends in India
Year
Urban
Total
Population population
In million
1800
1950
2000
2008
2030
2%
30%
47%
~50%
~ 60%
140
360
1027
1160
2050
Source: UN, Urbanization prospects, the 1999 revision
14
Urbanization Growth
• If India does grow rapidly, one would expect about
75% of India’s population would be urbanized by
2050
• Urban population in 2050 = 75% of 1.6 billion = 1.2
billion
• Urban population today = 28% of 1.002 billion = 280
million
• Urban population would increase by 920 million by
2050 (almost 20 million new urban residents a year)
• Can India cope with such rapid urbanization, or
will it stymie India’s growth?
Urbanization: Trends and Patterns2
• 286 million people in India live in urban areas (around 28%
of the population)*
• The proportion of urban population in India is increasing
consistently over the years
 From 11% in 1901 to 26% in 1991 and 28% in 2001
• Estimated to increase to 357 million in 2011 and to 432
million in 2021*
• After independence
• 3 times growth - Total population
• 5 times growth - Urban population*
* Census of India 2001
16
INDIA: URBAN GEOGRAPHY
• In 2003, India was one of the least urbanized of the large in
population countries of the world, given that only 28 percent of
the country's population resided in urban areas.
• Although the proportion classified as urban is small, in absolute
numbers India had 299,208,000 people residing in urban centers.
• Mumbai (formerly Bombay), with 11,914,398 people, is the
largest city of India in terms of population. Delhi ranks second
with 9,817,439 followed by Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) with
4,580,544.
• 11 Indian cities have populations in excess of one million
inhabitants.
• The largest metropolitan area populations of India are:
– Mumbai 16,368,084
– Kolkata 13,216,546
– Delhi 12,791,458
Dharavi is the largest ‘slum’ in Asia
Location: Mumbai, India
How would they describe Dharavi to
tourist?
• Dharavi is described as a “slum of hope”
• Dharavi is described as a “slum of
despair”
Demographics in South Asia
70% of South Asians live in rural areas, in villages, yet
South Asia has some of the world’s largest cities:
•Mumbai- 16 million
•Kolkatta- 13 million
•Delhi- 13 million
•Dhaka- 13 million
INDIA: URBAN GEOGRAPHY
• Indian urbanization is accelerating, and urban India is
today growing more than twice as rapidly as the country's
overall population.
• Attendant problems include poor sanitation, street
dwellers, and riots.
• In 1984, riots between Hindu and Moslems in Mumbai
left hundreds dead.
• Reasons for migration to cities (internal migration):
– Loosening of ties between poor peasants and their villages.
– Widespread establishment of village men or "caste brothers"
who encourage friends and relatives to move to the cities.
Reasons for migration to cities:
•Higher salaries
•Business opportunities
•Anonymity and individualism
•Rise in caste status
•Agricultural modernization (reduces rural incomes and
jobs)
•Population pressures
•Refugees of drought or flooding
Migration-causes
• Increased family size-limited agricultural property
-Land use Pattern
-Irrigation facilities
• Better income prospects
• Better educational facilities
• Better “Life style”
• Basic amenities – health, transport,water,
electricity.
• Victims of natural/manmade calamities-Refugees
25
2
Urbanization
•
•
•
Many of India’s people live in small or medium-sized towns, which are
larger and livelier than rural villages.
India’s cities are very densely populated, as evidenced by Mumbai’s
population density of 714,000 inhabitants per square mile.
Despite the extreme crowding and poverty, cities offer more opportunities
for work and education than do rural areas.
INDIA: URBAN GEOGRAPHY
• Population densities in urban centers are very high.
• Kolkata (Calcutta) averages 13,900 persons per sq km (36,000
persons per sq mi) for its entire area of 1036 sq km (400 sq
mi).
• By comparison, New York City averages 1544 persons per sq
km (4,000 persons per sq mi).
• In Kolkata (Calcutta), an estimated 200,000 residents are
known as street people and sleep under bridges, railway
overpasses, in doorways or wherever they can find a spot.
• Slightly better off are the residents of the bustees, hovels
made of cardboard, burlap, or other scrap material.
• An estimated 2,000,000 people live in bustees.
•
INDIA:
URBAN
GEOGRAPHY
Indian urbanization reveals several regional patterns:
– The northern heartland, the west (wheat growing area) is
more urbanized than the east (where rice forms the main
staple crop).
– In the west urbanization may be as much as 40%; in the east
only about 10% of the population resides in urban centers.
• India's larger cities (more than 100,000) are concentrated in three
regions:
(1) the northern plains from Punjab to the Ganges Delta
(2) the Bombay-Ahmadabad area
(3) the southern end of the peninsula, which includes Madras
and Bangalore
• Large cities(more than one million) outside these regions include
centrally positioned Nagpur and Hyderabad (capital of Andhra
Pradesh).
Principal Cities of South Asia
Mumbai (Bombay)
11,914,398
Delhi
9,817,439
Karachi
4,901,627
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Bangalore
4,580,544
4,292,223
Chennai (Madras)
Dhaka
Ahmadabad
3,515,361
Hyderabad
3,449,878
4,216,268
3,637,892
Lahore
2,707,215
Poona (Pune)
Kanpur
Lucknow
2,540,069
2,540,069
2,207,340
Nagpur
2,051,320
Faisalabad
1,104,209
-
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
12,000,000
14,000,000
Cities of India
•
•
•
Mumbai, on India’s west
coast, is the country’s busiest
port and its financial center,
while Chennai and Kolkata
are major centers of
commerce and shipping on
the east coast.
New Delhi is the country’s
capital and center of
government.
Varanasi, on the banks of the
Ganges, is regarded by
Hindus as their holiest city,
and devout Hindus hope to
visit the city at least once
within their lifetime to wash in
the sacred Ganges River.
Migration-consequences
•
•
•
•
•
•
Overcrowding
Mushrooming of slums
Unemployment
Poverty
Physical & mental stress
Family structure-Nuclear families
-Single males
33
Migration-cobweb
Slums
Migration
Illiteracy
Unhygienic
conditions
Overcrowding
Unemployment
Communicable
diseases
Stretching of
overburdened
systems
Poverty
Crimes
Non-Communicable
diseases
Injuries
Stress
Life style
modification
Mental
illness
34
A scene which makes every Indian feel shameful…
35
Slums of India
• In the last decades, the total urban population in India’s 3 largest
metropolitan areas has increased to nearly 400 million people.
• In 2011, India’s slum population was estimated to be 90 million.
T
• his rapid urbanization has brought unique challenges to those
calling India’s cities home.
• Planning practices left over from Colonial times have created city
structures characterized by unequal distribution of public
services, especially access to clean water and sanitary waste
disposal.
• Government agencies, as well as Non-Governmental
Organizations, are working to provide access to clean water and
sanitation for India’s slum dwellers through crisis intervention,
infrastructure construction, and education on water quality
1,2
Slums
• Under section 3 of the Slum Area and Improvement Act
(Improvement and Clearance Act) (Act No.96, 1956) an
area is legally considered a slum if competent authority
reports that any areas are:
• a)In any respect unfit for human habitation;
• or b) are by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty
arrangement and design of such buildings, narrowness
or faulty arrangement of streets, lack of ventilation,
light, sanitation facilities or any combination of these
factors which are detrimental to safety, health and
morals
• More males than females
• Vast majority is part of the working age group (15-59)
• Caste System continues to play defining role
Factors Affecting Health in Slums*
• Economic conditions
• Social conditions
• Living environment
• Access and use of public health care services
• Hidden/Unlisted slums
• Rapid mobility
* Agarwal S, Satyavada A, Kaushik S, Kumar R. Urbanization, Urban Poverty and Health of the
Urban Poor: Status, Challenges and the Way Forward. Demography India. 2007; 36(1): 121-134
38
Double Burden of Diseases
• Overcrowding and related health issues
• Rapid growth of urban centers has led to
substandard housing on marginal land and
overcrowding
• Outbreaks of diseases transmitted through
respiratory and faeco-oral route due to increased
population density
• It exacerbates health risks related to insufficient and
poor water supply and poor sanitation systems
• Lack of privacy leading to depression, anxiety,
39
stress etc
Double Burden of Diseases
• Upsurge of Non-communicable diseases
• The rising trends of non-communicable
diseases are a consequence of the
demographic and dietary transition
• Decreases in activity combined with access
to processed food high in calories and low in
nutrition have played a key role
• Urbanization is an example of social change
that has a remarkable effect on diet in the
developing world
40
Double Burden of Diseases
• Traditional staples are often more expensive in urban
areas than in rural areas, whereas processed foods are
less expensive
• This favors the consumption of new processed foods
• This places the urban population at increased
risk of NCDs
• In India, chronic diseases are estimated to account for
53% of all deaths and 44% of disability-adjusted lifeyears (DALYs) lost in 2005
41
• Large segment of urban
poor
• In migration and floating
populations
• Diverse social and cultural
backgrounds
• Greater vulnerability of the
migrating populations
• Inequitable distribution of
health facilities
• Multiple agencies/bodies
providing health care
• Lack of Standardization and
standard treatment protocols
• Lack of integrated HMIS and
databases
Socio
Demographic
Operational
KEY CHALLENGES TO URBAN
HEALTH SERVICES
Administrative
• Various administrative units
with little coordination.
• Districts and zones not clear
• Lack of grass root level
structures like PRI’s
Dual burden
of diseases
• Increased burden of diseases
associated with overcrowding,
poor sanitation and hygiene
• Diseases associated with air
and water pollution
• Lifestyle and stress related
diseases, accidents/violence,
substance abuse
42
• Diseases of nutrition
Operational Challenges
• Lack of standards for
– Provision of safe water and sanitation facilities
– Housing and waste disposal systems
• No public health bill for setting up and regulating
these standards
• Lack of understanding of recent demands of urban health
care delivery and poor planning/implementation
43
Operational Challenges
• Lack of infrastructure for setting up of primary health
care facilities
• Many slums are not having even a single primary
health care facility in their vicinity
• Multiple health care facilities/bodies but without
coordination
• Lack of community level organizations/slum level
organizations and lack of adequate support to them
44
Infrastructure Issues
Disparate Taxation
• Only 35 million people pay income tax
to the federal government.
–Formal Sector
• Over 1 billion pay NO federal taxes!
–Informal Sector
–Largely agricultural or village based
Lacking Infrastructure
• Major cities are not connected at this point by
a highway system.
• Golden Quadrilateral Highway Project will
eventually connect New Delhi-MumbaiBangalore-Chennai-Kolkata. - $12 billion
• Currently only 3,700 miles of highways!!!
• 40% of farm produce goes to waste as a result
of poor transportation
Infrastructure Issues
• Irrigation & Water Pollution – Narmada
Valley Project
–Building of 30 major & 3,000 minor
dams
–Electric power will be created
• Bhopal Accident – American chemical
plant accident, killed 2,000
• Modernizing vs. Environmental
Protection
Scheduled Improvements
• New $430 million Bangalore International
Airport to be completed by April 2008.
(European built and operated)
– Roads to the airport are uncertain
• Vallapardam Ship Terminal in Kochi
(southwest coast of Kerala) to be completed
by Dubai’s DP World at a cost of $555 million
Population Issues
How To Handle Them
INDIA: POPULATION GEOGRAPHY
• India had 1,068,600,000 people in 2003 (17% of the
world total), the world's second largest country in
population after China.
• India has a rate of natural increase of 1.7% (compared
to a 1.3% world rate) and a projected population of
1,363,000,000 by 2025.
• At this rate, it is only a matter of time before India
becomes the world's most populous country.
• The largest clusters of the Indian population are found
in the Gangetic plains in the north and the coastal areas
of the country. These are the most fertile parts of India.
5
South Asia is one of the most densely
populated areas on earth.
India has a population growth rate of
1.6 percent, which will lead to the
doubling of the nation’s population in
36 years.
INDIA: POPULATION GEOGRAPHY
• In India, population arithmetic density
(in 2003) was 325 persons per sq km (842
persons per sq mi); physiological density
(in 2000) was at 557 persons per square
kilometer (1442 persons per square mile).
• In neighboring Bangladesh the arithmetic
density is approximately 2.5 times as
high, 1,040 persons per sq km (2,639
persons per sq mi).
More than one-third of India’s population is under the age
of 15 years old.
India’s natural increase rate: 1.5% (2009 est)
China’s natural increase rate: 0.6%
India’s population is expected to exceed China’s by 2020.
Each year India adds 18 million people.
To accommodate this, each year India would have to add:
•127,000 new village schools
•373,000 new teachers (at 50 students per teacher)
•2.5 million new homes (with 7 people per home)
•4 million new jobs
•180 million new bushels of grain and vegetables
CASE STUDY: Slowing
Population Growth in India
• For over 50 years, India has tried to control its
population growth with only modest success.
• Two factors help account for larger families in India.
– Most poor couples believe they need several children to
work and care for them in old age.
– The strong cultural preference for male children means
that some couples keep having children until they
produce one or more boys.
• The result: even though 9/10 Indian couples have
access to at least one modern birth control method,
only 48% actually use one.
Family Planning as National Policy
• In 1952, the Indian government adopted family planning as a national policy.
– By 1961, there were 4,165 family planning clinics.
– As a part of the government campaign to limit the number of children, the
government has put up billboards with the following slogan: "four is a
family, five is a crowd."
• In 1976, a national population policy was adopted including:
– the increase of the age of marriage for females to 18 years and for males to
21,
– tying financial grants from the federal government to the state
governments to their performance in limiting births,
– provision of sex education in schools,
– expansion of compensation for voluntary sterilization,
– and use of incentives by governments to encourage people to limit their
family size.
• In 1977, this policy was made voluntary following the collapse of the Indira
Gandhi government. Only 8% of federal assistance was tied to performance
on birth control by states.
South Asia has been trying to reduce births since 1952.
India began its population programs in 1952.
mid-1960s: they opened camps for mass insertions of IUDs.
1970s: “Vasectomy camps”
10 million men were coerced into sterilized by vasectomies
during the “Emergency Drive” for family planning in the
1970s.
Backlash against family planning and distrust of gov’t
1998: the Indian government abandoned targets for
sterilizations and contraception. Focus on education.
Family planning poster from India
“Why only a boy?”
family planning poster
from India
How is it that population continues to boom even with declines
in fertility?
•Significant part of population is in early reproductive years
•Poor, rural, uneducated people see children as their only source
of wealth.
•Because there is little access to healthcare, infant mortality
rates are high (67/1,000 live births).
•View sons as more beneficial than daughters.
Pollution Issues
Pollution
“All
the ills of urban development exist in this one
city, [New Delhi].”
“The environmental problems of developing
countries are not the side effects of excessive
industrialization but reflect the inadequacy of
development” (Gandhi)
Indira Gandhi 1968: UN pollution conference
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Double Burden of Diseases
• Air pollution and its consequences
• Due to increase in the numbers of motorized
vehicles and industries in the cities of the
developing world
• Problems of noise and air pollution
• Air pollution can affect our health in many ways with
both short-term and long-term effects
• Short-term air pollution can aggravate medical
conditions like asthma and emphysema
• Long-term health effects can include chronic
respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and
even damage to other vital organs
65
Indoor Air Pollution






Fuel wood, animal dung and crop residues = fuel (Smith 2000).
Arsenic & other toxins
560 villages arsenic-affected
More than a million people are drinking arsenic contaminated water
200,000 people are suffer from arsenic-related diseases
Result: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and acute respiratory
infections.
– Most common COD for children under 5 in India (WHO)
– Low birth weight, increased infant and prenatal mortality,
pulmonary tuberculosis, nasopharyngeal and laryngeal cancer,
cataract, and, specifically in respect of the use of coal, with lung
cancer and asthma.
Waste Disposal
Land scarcity for
dumping sites
Burning: Most
common = CFC
emissions
Recycling difficult to
implement
Increase in MSW (municipal
solid waste)
Rapid population growth
Modernization
Mumbai population grew
from 8.2 million in 1981 to
12.3 million in 1991
MSW 3200 tons per day to 5
355 tons per day
Municipality competition
Access sanitation
• Only 33% can get rid of there garbage
others can’t.
• So that leaves them with nasty garbage to
live with.
• So they have to find a way to get rid of all
that garbage.
This is what has happened in India
Water conservation can help solve this problem
The problem in India
•India has the world’s second largest population
•The population in India is too big. This is part of
why India is in a water crisis.
•Some of the diseases are being spread because,
many people cannot wash their hands correctly
with such little water.
Disease is also spread through drinking-water.
Water

India has 86% improved water sources that
leaves 14% with dirty water.
Water Pollution
 3.7 Million depend on basic well system
 hydrocarbons, phenols, cyanide, pesticides, major inorganic
species, and bacteria.
 Yamuna River can no longer support life
 Garbage cascades down its banks, giving off a fetid stench. And half
of the city's raw sewage flows into its waters.
 "The river is dead, it just has not been officially cremated"
 Govt. spending: $500 million
 River pollution has doubled since 1993
 Unplanned Communities
 80% pollution due to raw sewage
 -4% GDP due to lost productivity (Gupta)
 Technology can improve “nullahs”
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Double Burden of Diseases
• Water and sanitation problems
• Due to increasing urbanization coupled with
existing un-sustainability factors and
conventional urban water management
• Nealy 1.1 billion people worldwide who do not
have access to clean drinking water and 2.6
billion people i.e. over 400 million people,
lack even a simple improved latrine
• Can lead to increased episodes of diarrhea
and economic burden
73
Economic Strength
Why is India becoming an
economic superpower?
Even though the world has
just discovered it, the India
growth story is not new. It has
been going on for 25 years
old
India Story
1) Rising GDP growth
% average annual GDP growth
1900 – 1950
1950 – 1980
1980 – 2002
2002 – 2006
1.0
3.5
6.0
8.0
Sources: 1900-1990: Angus Maddison (1995), Monitoring the World Economy, 1990-2000:Census of India
(2001), 2000-2005 Finance Ministry
India Story
2) Population growth is
slowing
% average annual growth
1901 – 1950
1951 – 1980
1981 – 1990
1991 – 2000
2001 – 2010
1.0
2.2
2.1
1.8
1.5
Sources: 1900-1990: Angus Maddison (1995), Monitoring the World Economy, 1990-2000:Census of India (2001)
The Population Factor
• The world’s 2nd largest
country with 1,121,800,000
• Only 1/3 the size of the U.S.
• 1.7% natural increase
• 2025 – approaching 1.4
billion
World’s largest!
• Will surpass China by 2032
• 70 million have moved to the
cities between 1991-2001
• Growing massive cities such
as: Mumbai, New Delhi,
Kolkata, Chennai
India’s demographic
advantage means that its high
growth will continue longer
term while China will slow
India has law, China has order
-India got democracy before
capitalism and this has made all the
difference
-It will be slower than China but its
path will be surer
-India more likely to preserve its
way of life
“By 2010 India will have world’s
largest number of English
speakers”
“When 300 million Indians speak
a
word in a certain way,
that will be the way to speak it.”
-Prof. David Crystal, Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English
Language
India Story
3. Literacy is rising
1950
1990
2000
2010 (proj)
Source: Census of India (2001)
%
17
52
65
80
India Story
4. Middle class is
exploding
%
Million
People
1980
8
65
2000
22
220
2010 (proj)
32
368
Source: The Consuming Class, National Council of Applied Economic Research, 2002
INDIA WILL GRADUALLY TURN
MIDDLE CLASS
1980
2000
2010
2020
2040
%
8
22
32
50 West of the
Kanpur-Chennai line
50 East of the
Kanpur-Chennai line
Growing Middle Class
• Over 200 million people falling into a
growing middle class of consumers.
• Technically defined as those earning
between $4000-$21,000 a year.
• This actually only accounts for 60 M.
• “Middle class-ness” seems to include
those going from living on $5 a day to $10.
India Story
5. Poverty is declining
1980
2000
2010 (proj)
46%
26%
16%
1% of the people have been crossing poverty line
each year for 20 years. Equals ~ 200 million.
India Story
6. Productivity is rising
30% to 40% of GDP growth is due
to rising productivity
India Story
7. Per capita income
gains
(US$ ppp)
1980
1178
2000
3051
Source: World Bank
This means a per capita income
roughly of (on a ppp basis):
($)
2000
2005
2020
2040
2066
2100
3050
5800
16,800
37,000
India Story
th
4
8. India is now the
largest economy
And it will cross Japan between
2012 and 2014 to become the 3rd
largest
Government and the Economy
• India is the world’s largest democracy.
• India is one of the strongest nations in Asia.
• One of India’s largest industries is its moviemaking
industry—called Bollywood.
• Although India is one of the world’s top five industrial
countries, millions of Indians live in poverty.
Globalization and India
• Thomas Freidman has asserted
that globalization has made the
world “flat” as evidenced by the
growing service sector within
India.
• This also implies that India is
“flat.”
• Reality on the ground may differ.
DRIVERS OF GROWTH
India
Domestic
Services
Consumption
High tech, capital
intensive industry
East and S.E. Asia
Exports
Manufacturing
Investment
Low tech, labour
intensive industry
India’s “mixed economy”
 The “mix” refers to private and
public ownership. Socialism…
 Foreign aid and foreign investment
are crucial (also something Gandhi
disagreed with).
 Urban areas have high-tech
companies.
 Three quarters of the population are
farmers living in small villages.
Reasons for Success
India’s success is market led
whereas China’s is state
induced. The entrepreneur is at
centre of the Indian model
“Licence Raj”
• Licence Raj, also the Permit Raj refers to the elaborate
licenses, regulations and the accompanying red tape
that were required to set up and run businesses in India
between 1947 and 1990.
• The Licence Raj was a result of India's decision to have
a planned economy where all aspects of the economy
are controlled by the state and licences are given to a
select few.
• Up to 80 government agencies had to be satisfied before
private companies could produce something and, if
granted, the government would regulate production.
• The social democratic plan is too optimistic for Inidan
immature environment.
Rise of globally competitive
Indian companies:
Reliance, Jet Airways, Infosys, Wipro,
Ranbaxy, Bharat Forge, Tata Motors,
TCS, Bharati, ICICI and HDFC Banks
India has a vibrant private space
> 100 Indian Companies have market
>
>
>
<
>
cap of US$ 1 billion
1000 Indian Companies have
received foreign institutional
investment
125 Fortune 500 companies have
R&D bases in India
390 Fortune 500 companies have
outsourced software development to India.
2% bad loans in Indian banks (vs ~ 20% in China)
80% credit goes to private sector (vs~10% in
China)
Public space is a problem
+
+
-
Dynamic democracy
Free, lively media and press
Poor governance
High subsidies High fiscal deficit
Creaky infrastructure
Inefficient government companies
What explains India’s economic
success?
1) Even slow reforms add up-state
getting out of the way
2) Young minds are liberated
3) India has found its competitive
advantage in the knowledge economy
Key Reforms
• Opened economy to trade and investment
• Dismantled controls
• Lowered tariffs
• Dropped tax rates
• Broke public sector monopolies
Agriculture
By the Numbers
• Per Capita GDP - $3600
• 60% agricultural/ but only 20% of
GDP.
• 100 million farmers own NO land.
• Approximately 80% of all Indians
live on the equivalent of less than
$2 a day.
2
Agriculture
• Farming methods have
improved, but few families own
enough land to support
themselves.
• Many farmers have set up
cottage industries to add to
their income.
• India is a leading industrial
nation, and advances have
been made there in technology
and consumer industries.
• The growing middle class
forms the market for consumer
goods.
INDIA: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Primary Sector:
• Indian agriculture is inefficient and labor intensive.
• Animals are frequently used for power.
• The village is the focus of life for 74 percent of the Indian
population with an estimated 580,000 villages.
• Approximately 2/3 of India's huge working population (63
percent) depends directly on the land for its livelihood.
• Substantial progress toward modernization has been made in the
Punjab's wheat zone.
• In the early 1980s more than 1/4 of India's cultivated area was
still owned by only 4 percent of the country's farming families.
• Half of all rural families either owned as little as a half hectare
(1.25 acres) or less, or no land at all.
• Land consolidation efforts have had only limited success, except
in the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
INDIA: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
•
Major crop zones:
1.
Wheat. Dry northwest notably in the Punjab and neighboring areas of the
Upper Ganges. Many gains from the Green Revolution through the
introduction of high-yielding varieties developed in Mexico.
Rice. Moist east and a summer monsoon drenched south. More than 1/4 of
all of India's farmland lies under rice cultivation, most of it in the states of
Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and eastern Uttar Pradesh. This area
has more than 100 cm (40 inches) of rainfall. India has the largest acreage of
rice among the world's countries. Yields per hectare are still low at below
1,000 kg (900 lbs./acre), however.
Coconut. Malabar Coast. (Kerala)
Millet. Southwestern India. A cereal grass, Setaria italica, extensively
cultivated in the East and in southern Europe for its small seed or grain, used
as food for man and fowls, but in the U.S. grown chiefly for fodder.
Groundnut. Kathiawar Peninsula.
Cotton. West-Central India (Deccan Plateau).
Chick Peas. Northwest.
Plantation. Northeast.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
INDIA: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
• Livestock:
• India has more livestock than any other country in the
world.
–
–
–
–
Cows - 200,000,000
water buffalo - 60,000,000
Goats and sheep - 60,000,000
Horses, donkeys, and elephants - 5,000,000
• Sheep are of major importance in the drier west where the
Islamic population is clustered.
• Water buffalo is dominant in the Ganges Delta and
coastal regions.
• Cattle (particularly the Brahman or Zebu breeds) are
found throughout India.
INDIA: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
• Cattle are an integral element of the Indian agricultural economy.
– They are the primary source of draft power (plowing, pulling carts, grinding
grain, and a host of other tasks).
– Cattle graze on forage which would otherwise be wasted during a dry season.
– Cattle consume secondary agriculture byproducts (straw, rice husks, and corn
stalks).
– Cattle produce an estimated 771,000,000 metric tons (850,000,000 tons) of cow
dung, the principle source of domestic fuel a year.
– Dung is also mixed with mud and used for plaster; also a major source of
fertilizer.
– Cattle also produce most of India's milk (the bulk of which comes from the
water buffalo).
– When a cow dies, it is consumed by the untouchables (who have no prohibitions
about consuming beef when it is available) of the large Hindu population.
– Cow hides are a major source of leather.
– The maintenance of the large numbers of cows and buffalo is a completely
rational activity in the Indian agricultural economy.
India’s “Green
Revolution”




Introducing higheryielding varieties of seeds in 1965.
Increased use of fertilizers & irrigation.
GOAL  make India self-sufficient in food
grains.
India's "Green Revolution" allowed RICH
farmers to triple their crop by using
modern science and technology.
INDIA: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
• Green Revolution describes the development of extremely highyielding grain crops that allow major increases in food
production, particularly in subtropical areas.
• In 1953, scientists developed rust-resistant dwarf wheats which
doubled Mexico's per acre production in the next decade.
• After a major drought in India in 1965, Mexican dwarf wheat
was widely planted in the Punjab region, producing dramatic
increases in wheat yields.
• The improved rice (IR)- IR-8 was spotted in 1965 at the Los
BaZos research institute in the Philippines, which was set up
using aid from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations.
• Its first harvest, from 60 trial tons of seeds, produced a six-fold
increase of rice under field conditions.
• About 10% of India's paddy land is now planted with IR-8
varieties.
INDIA: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
• Green Revolution benefits:
– Two to four times the yield of indigenous grains.
– A shortened growing season allows two crops per year.
– “Miracle grains" have a wider tolerance for climatic
variations.
• Green Revolution problems
– Need for high application of fertilizer and insecticide, and in
the case of rice, there is a need for copious irrigation.
– "Miracle grains" have been adopted in the most prosperous
areas and among the most prosperous farmers. As a result,
interregional and social gaps have widened.
– Traditional marketing patterns have been upset. Thailand and
Myanmar (Burma) have found their traditional markets
disappearing, and Japan now looks for exports.
Industries
INDIA: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
• Secondary sector:
• At the time of independence (1947), Indian industries emphasized
textiles and food processing.
• Gandhi championed development of the cottage industries that
existed prior to the intervention of Britain.
– A cottage industry involves small scale production using high
labor inputs.
– Cottage industries are very important because they are labor
intensive.
– They employ 40 individuals for every one employed in a large
automated factory producing the same products.
– A total of 750 products is produced by small industries which
use <=$100,000 in capital. (Receivers, tools, plumbing
fittings, etc.).
• Manufacturing employs only 13% of the labor force.
INDIA: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Manufacturing Regions:
1. Kolkata (Calcutta) and Jamshedpur form an
emerging industrial region in northeastern India.
–
–
–
Calcutta forms the center of the Bihar-Bengal area where
jute manufacturing dominates, but engineering, chemical
and cotton industries also exist. Jute: a strong, coarse fiber
used for making burlap, gunny, and cordage; it is obtained
from two East Indian plants-Corchorus capsularis and
Corchorus olitorius of the linden family.
The Jamshedpur region 240 km (150 mi) west of Calcutta
has the Tata Steel Works, India’s single largest steel making
complex (Indian Ruhr).
In the nearby Chota-Nagpur district, coal mining and iron
and steel manufactures have developed, and Bhilai is a
growing nucleus of heavy industry.
INDIA: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Manufacturing Regions:
2. Western Zone-Mumbai (Bombay)-Ahmadabad:
This Maharashtra, Gujarat area specializes in cotton
and chemicals with some engineering and food
processing, automobiles, and petrochemicals.
3. Southeastern Zone- Chennai (Madras):
specializing in textiles.
4. Bangalore supports diversified electrical
manufacturing, machine tools, the construction
industry, and food processing.
Technology
India’s Economy Today
• 60% of people work in agriculture
• 28% of people work in new service
industries
• New Technology has helped expand
the economy
• Important Industries
–Textiles, chemicals, steel,
software, mining
India: Technology Superpower


15 of the world's major Automobile makers are
obtaining components from Indian companies.

Texas Instruments was the first to open
operations in Bangalore, followed by
Motorola, Intel, Cadence Design Systems
and several others.
This business fetched India $1.5 Billion in 2003,
and will reach $15 Billion by 2007.

New emerging industries areas include, BioInformatics, Bio-Technology, Genomics,
Clinical Research and Trials.

80 of the World’s 117 SEI CMM Level-5
companies are based in India.


5 Indian companies recently received the
globally acclaimed Deming prize. This prize
is given to an organization for rigorous total
quality management (TQM) practices.
World-renowned TQM expert Yasutoshi Washio
predicts that Indian manufacturing quality will
overtake that of Japan in 2013.

McKinsey believes India's revenues from the IT
industry will reach $87 Billion by 2008.

Flextronics, the $14 billion
global major in Electronic Manufacturing
Services, has announced that it will make India a
global competence centre for telecom software
development.

Geneva-based STMicroelectronics is one of
the largest semiconductor companies to
develop integrated circuits and software in
India.
India: Technology Superpower

Over 100 MNCs have set up R&D facilities in India in the past five years.
These include GE, Bell Labs, Du Pont, Daimler Chrysler, Eli Lilly, Intel,
Monsanto, Texas Instruments, Caterpillar, Cummins, GM, Microsoft and IBM.

India’s telecom infrastructure between Chennai, Mumbai and Singapore,
provides the largest bandwidth capacity in the world, with well over 8.5
Terabits (8.5Tbs) per second.

With more than 250 universities, 1,500 research institutions and 10,428
higher-education institutes, India produces 200,000 engineering
graduates and another 300,000 technically trained graduates every year.
(note: per capita numbers are lower in comparison with first world, Russia and Israel, indicating
India should increase the number of educational institutions and educational opportunities to its 1.3
billion population)

Besides, another 2 million graduate in other areas in India annually.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is among the top three
universities from which McKinsey & Company, the world's biggest
consulting firm, hires most.
Information
Technology’s Impact
• India produces about 100,000 new
engineers a year. About 3 times the
number of the U.S.
• But still only 1.6 million people are
employed in IT and Service Center jobs.
• Key centers include Bangalore, New
Delhi, Gurgaon, and Hyderabad.
U.S. companies in India
IT Services-design,
support, and or production
• Adobe, Cisco Systems, Dell,
Google, Hewlett-Packard,
General Motors, IBM, Intel,
Microsoft, Motorola, Texas
Instruments, Yahoo
India: Trade

Tata Motors paid $ 118 million to buy Daewoo
commercial vehicle Company of Korea.

Ranbaxy, the largest Indian pharmaceutical
company, gets 70% of its $1 billion revenue
from overseas operations and 40% from USA.

Tata Tea has bought Tetley of UK for £260M.

India is one of the world's largest diamond
cutting and polishing centres, its exports were
worth $6 Billion in 1999.

About 9 out of 10 diamond stones sold
anywhere in the world, pass through India.

Garment exports are expected to increase
from the current level of $6 billion to $25
billion by 2010.

The country's foreign exchange reserves
stand at an all-time high of $120 Billion.

India's trade with China grew by by 104% in
2002 and in the first 5 months of 2003, India
has amassed a surplus in trade close to $0.5M.

Mobile phones are growing by about 1.5Million
a month. Long distance rates are down by twothirds in five years and by 80% for data
transmission.

Wal-Mart sources $1 Billion worth of goods
from India - half its apparel. Wal-Mart
expects this to increase to $10 Billion in the
next couple of years.

GAP sources about $600 million and Hilfiger
$100 million worth of apparel from India.
India: Self-Reliance

India is among six countries that launch
satellites and do so even for Germany,
Belgium, South Korea, Singapore and EU
countries.

India's INSAT is among the world's largest
domestic satellite communication systems.

India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle (GSLV) was indigenously
manufactured with most of the components
like motor cases, inter-stages, heat shield,
cryogenic engine, electronic modules all
manufactured by public and private Indian
industry.

Kalpana Chawla was one of the seven
astronauts in the Columbia space shuttle
when it disintegrated over Texas skies just 16
minutesbefore its scheduled landing on Feb
1st 2003, she was the second Indian in space.

Back in 1968, India imported 9M tonnes of
food-grains to support its people, through a
grand programme of national self-sufficiency
which started in 1971, today, it now has a food
grain surplus stock of 60M.

India is among the 3 countries in the World
that have built Supercomputers on their own.
The other two countries being USA and Japan.

India built its own Supercomputer after the
USA denied India purchasing a Cray computer
back in 1987.

India’s new ‘PARAM Padma’ Terascale
Supercomputer (1 Trillion processes per sec.)
is also amongst only 4 nations in the world to
have this capability.

India is providing aid to 11 countries, writingoff their debt and loaning the IMF $300M.

It has also prepaid $3Billion owed to the
World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
India: Pharmaceuticals

The Indian pharmaceutical industry at $6.5 billion and growing at 8-10%
annually, is the 4th largest pharmaceutical industry in the world, and is
expected to be worth $12 billion by 2008.

Its exports are over $2 billion. India is among the top five bulk drug makers and at
home, the local industry has edged out the Multi-National companies whose share
of 75% in the market is down to 35%.

Trade of medicinal plants has crossed $900M already.

There are 170 biotechnology companies in India, involved in the development
and manufacture of genomic drugs, whose business is growing exponentially.

Sequencing genes and delivering genomic information for big
Pharmaceutical companies is the next boom industry in India.
India: Foreign Multi-National Companies
Top 5 American employers in India:
General Electric:
Hewlett-Packard
IBM
American Express
Dell
: 17,800 employees
: 11,000 employees
: 6,000 employees
: 4,000 employees
: 3,800 employees

General Electric (GE) with $80 Million invested in India employs 16,000 staff, 1,600 R&D staff who
are qualified with PhD’s and Master’s degrees.

The number of patents filed in USA by the Indian entities of some of the MNCs (upto September,
2002) are as follows: Texas Instruments - 225, Intel - 125, Cisco Systems - 120, IBM - 120, Phillips 102, GE - 95.

Staff at the offices of Intel (India) has gone up from 10 to 1,000 in 4 years,
and will reach 2000 staff by 2006.

GE's R&D centre in Bangalore is the company's largest research outfit outside the United States. The
centre also devotes 20% of its resources on 5 to 10 year fundamental research in areas such as
nanotechnology, hydrogen energy, photonics, and advanced propulsion.

It is estimated that there are 150,000 IT professionals in Bangalore as against 120,000 in Silicon Valley.
Top 5 American employers in India:
General Electric:
Hewlett-Packard
IBM
American Express
Dell
: 17,800 employees
: 11,000 employees
: 6,000 employees
: 4,000 employees
: 3,800 employees
General Electric (GE) with $80 Million invested in India employs 16,000 staff, 1,600 R&D staff
who are qualified with PhD’s and Master’s degrees.
The number of patents filed in USA by the Indian entities of some of the MNCs (upto
September, 2002) are as follows: Texas Instruments - 225, Intel - 125, Cisco Systems - 120, IBM 120, Phillips - 102, GE - 95.
Staff at the offices of
Intel (India) has gone up from 10 to 1,000 in 4 years,
and will reach 2000 staff by 2006.
GE's R&D centre in Bangalore is the company's largest research outfit outside the United
States. The centre also devotes 20% of its resources on 5 to 10 year fundamental research in
areas such as nanotechnology, hydrogen energy, photonics, and advanced propulsion.
It is estimated that there are 150,000 IT professionals in Bangalore as against 120,000 in Silicon
Valley.
William H. Gates, Chairman and Chief
Software Architect Microsoft
Corporation
(b-1955):
Gates emphasized that India had emerged as a major global IT
hub not because of the availability of low-cost skills, as many
believe. Rather, it had more to do with the ''quality'' and ''worldclass skills'' to be found in India, he said. ''The key is the quality
of the human talent here. When people do software projects in
India, they do so because this is the place they can find people
with the latest skills. It is not on the (cheap) price (of labor),'' he
was quoted as saying by The Times of India newspaper. Gates
had high praise for the ''quality of educational institutions which
could make India into an IT superpower.'’ September 19, 2000.
http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/BI19Df01.html
.”
Goldman Sachs Report of 1 October, 2003 –
"Dreaming with BRICs: The path to 2050"
India's GDP will reach $ 1 trillion by 2011,
$ 2 trillion by 2020,
$ 3 trillion by 2025,
$ 6 trillion by 2032,
$ 10 trillion by 2038, and
$ 27 trillion by 2050,
becoming the 3rd largest economy after USA and China.
In terms of GDP estimates, the continental India (1.3 billion, with $ 0.5 trillion in 2000) will
overtake Italy (60 million, $ 1.2 trillion in 2000) by the year 2016, France (60 million, $ 1.4 trillion
in 2000) by 2019, UK (60 million, $1.5 trillion) by 2022, Germany (85 million, $ 2.0 trillion in
2000) by 2023, and Japan (130 million, $3.9 trillion in 2000) by 2032.
Indians abroad
A snapshot of Indians at the helm of leading Global businesses
The Co-founder of Sun Microsystems (Vinod Khosla),
Creator of Pentium Chip (Vinod Dahm),
Founder and creator of Hotmail (Sabeer Bhatia),
Chief Executive of McKinsey & Co. (Rajat Gupta)
President and CFO of Pepsi Cola (Indra Nooyi)
President of United Airlines (Rono Dutta)
GM of Hewlett Packard (Rajiv Gupta)
President and CEO of US Airways (Rakesh Gangwal)
Chief Executive of CitiBank (Victor Menezes),
Chief Executives of Standard Chartered Bank (Rana Talwar)
Chief Executive officer of Vodafone (Arun Sarin)
President of AT & T-Bell Labs (Arun Netravali)
Vice-Chairman and founder of Juniper Networks (Pradeep Sindhu)
Founder of Bose Audio (Amar Bose)
Founder, chip designer Cirrus Logic (Suhas Patil )
Chairman and CEO of Computer Associates (Sanjay Kumar)
Head of (HPC WorldWide) of Unilever Plc. (Keki Dadiseth)
Chief Executive Officer of HSBC (Aman Mehta)
Director and member of Executive Board of Goldman Sachs (Girish Reddy)
Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (Raghuram Rajan)
Former CTO of Novell Networks (Kanwal Rekhi)
“Brain Drain”
• Young talent leaving India seems to be
slowing down.
• Average starting salary for an IT engineer in
India today is approximately $10-12,000.
• Many are graduates of the Indian Institute of
Technology
– Several campuses located throughout the
country
• This salary provides a comfortable lifestyle
in modern India for the privileged few.
Indians in the USA.
Statistics that show:
38% of
12% of
36% of
34% of
28% of
17% of
13% of
doctors in the USA,
scientists in the USA,
NASA scientists,
Microsoft employees,
IBM employees,
INTEL scientists,
XEROX employees,
… are Indians.

Of the 1.5M Indians living in the USA, 1/5th of them live in the Silicon Valley.

35% of Silicon Valley start-ups are by Indians.

Indian students are the largest in number among foreign students in USA.
US H1-B Visa
applicants country
of origin
1. India 44%
2. China 9%
3. Britain 5%
4. Philippines 3%
5. Canada 3%
6. Taiwan 2%
7. Japan 2%
8. Germany 2%
9. Pakistan 2%
10. France 2%
“IIT = Harvard + MIT + Princeton”
“IIT = Harvard + MIT + Princeton” , says CBS ‘60 Minutes’.
CBS' highly-regarded ‘60 Minutes’, the most widely watched news programme in the US, told its
audience of more than 10 Million viewers that “IIT may be the most important university
you've never heard of."
"The United States imports oil from Saudi Arabia, cars from Japan, TVs from Korea and
Whiskey from Scotland. So what do we import from India? We import people, really smart
people," co-host Leslie Stahl began while introducing the segment on IIT.
“…the smartest, the most successful, most influential Indians who've migrated to the US seem to
share a common credential: They are graduates of the IIT.”
“…in science and technology, IIT undergraduates leave their American counterparts in the dust.”
“Think about that for a minute: A kid from India using an Ivy League university as a safety
school. That's how smart these guys are.”
There are “cases where students who couldn't get into computer science at IIT, they have gotten
scholarships at MIT, at Princeton, at Caltech.”
Religious Conflict Between
Hindus and Muslims in India
HINDU-MUSLIM TENSIONS
• Ayodhya riots
• Mumbai riots
• 1992-93.
Thousands dead.
1992: Hindu
mob destroyed
the mosque in
Ayodhya.
Riots followed
killing over
2000 people.
Hindu
fundamentalists
want to build a
Hindu temple in
place of the
mosque.
Hindu fundamentalism opposes Indian
National Congress’s secularism.
1996:
Fundamentalist
Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) won
the election.
But they did not
have a majority
and had to form
a coalition
government.
The coalition
only lasted a
month, and the
United Front
took over.
The United Front
was a coalition of
small leftist
parties including
the Communists.
1997: BJP came back to
power. Atal Bihari Vajpayee
became Prime Minister.
HINDU NATIONALISM
• BJP Party wins national
elections in 1998.
• Favors confrontation
with Pakistan
• Develop nuclear
weapons program,
acccomplish little else.
Tamil Nationalism and
Militarism
Greater Tamil Nadu
Tamil
separatists
want their
own nation
Tamil Separatism:
The “Tamil Tigers”
They are
called the
Tamil Nadu
Liberation
Front.
Tamil Nadu
is the name
of a state in
India
The area demanded
by the Tamil
nationalists includes
most of southern
India and northern
Sri Lanka
Tamil Nationalism:
Sri Lanka has a
majority of
Sinhalese and a
minority of Tamils.
Following
independence the
Tamils demanded
their own nation
called Eelam
Fighting
continued
from 1976 to
present.
Sri Lankan missing in Tamil sea raid
March 21, 2001
TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka -- Seven sailors were
killed when a Sri Lankan navy boat was sunk by
Tamil Sea Tigers in an attack .
February 2003: Truce
signed by both sides.
Is the dream gone?