ARTICLE: 2 India: Fact Sheet Major Indian Business Cities Indian Economy India: Manufacturing India: Foreign Trade India: Member International Organization Indian Business Cities on Map Major Indian Business Cities: The largest city of India as well as its premier port is Mumbai. By 2001 census it had a population of 11.9 million in the city itself and 16.4 million in the metropolitan area. Mumbai was earlier known as an Indian trade & financial capital. But in last few years many large and small companies had shifted their business offices to smaller, safer and economical cities. Eighteen cities had a population of more than 1 million in 1991. These include, in descending order of size, the largest metropolitan area of India; Kolkata (13.2 million), Eastern India's chief commercial, financial and industrial center; Delhi (9.82 million), a historical city as well as a major transportation, commercial and manufacturing center; and Chennai (4.22 million), one of India's principal ports.   Other important business cities with more than 1 million people are Bangalore, rapidly growing as a center of high technology industry; Hyderabad Nagpur, Lucknow, and Jaipur, all centers of government and service industries; and Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Pune and Surat, which are known for their industrial economies. Indian Economy: Today India is world's 12th largest economy. The telecommunication networking is 6th best. With reforms, India made a dramatic shift from an economy relatively closed to global economy to one that is relatively open. By 1996 to 1997, foreign investment had increased nearly US $ 6 billion, up from US $ 165 million in 1990 to 1991. Exports & imports also grew dramatically in the same period. Economic growth since the 1980s has brought with it an expansion middle class, which estimated to from 20 to 25 percent of India's population in mid 1990s. As result demand for consumer goods from fragrances to luxury cars has expanded rapidly. In 2000, India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was US $ 457 billion. In 2000, India's forestry, agriculture and fishing made of 25 percent of GDP compared with 27 percent for industry (including manufacturing, mining and construction). Remaining 48 percent was from services. India: Manufacturing:  India has a diversified and substantial manufacturing sector. Important industries include textiles, iron & steel, food products, chemicals and computer software. India manufactures a large proportion of it's own requirements for aluminum, copper, machine-tools and heavy electrical equipment, artificial fibers and plastics, vehicles of all kinds from bicycles to trucks to railway engines. India also has good production setup in pharmaceuticals, chemical products, home appliances and televisions. India is already into the mainstream of free market economy. It already has large potentials for overseas companies/sellers to market here their products and services. In the months to come it will be added up a quota free regime drawn on lowest customs duty. And then this will be up to them to decide how they would like eating fruits out of this no barrier, 1 billion people's single marketplace. India: Foreign Trade: India experienced fluctuation in its foreign trade in 1990s. In 1990-91, during the economic crisis that helped to trigger the 1991 economic reforms India recorded US $ 27.9 billion of imports and US $ 18.5 billion of exports. After the reforms, India foreign trade improved. In 2000, India had US $ 50.5 billion in imports and US $ 42.3 billion of exports. Asia, Including Middle East, accounted in the mid-1990 for 41 percent of India's export trade and 44 of its import trade. Western Europe accounted for 29 percent of exports and 34 percent of imports, and North America (almost entirely of the United States, which India's largest partner), 20 percent of exports and 14 percent of imports. Major imports in mid 1990s included petroleum, machinery, gems, chemicals, iron & steel and fertilizers. Other major imports included newsprint, cooking oil, coal and medicinal and pharmaceuticals products. Principal exports were gems and jewelry, engineering goods, textiles, chemicals and agricultural products. Other major exports included ores and minerals, marine products, leather, handicrafts and carpets. Electronics and computer software exports in 1994-95 had more than double over 1992-93 figures, reaching 1.7 percent of total number of exports. In the current financial year's April & May months, India has gone for Imports for US $ 11233 million, up by 19.55% comparing the same period, last FY. While, in Exports for above referred two months, it was of US $ 8863.59 million, up by 11 percent to last year. India: Member of International Organization: ---Founder member, United Nations (UN), ---United Nations Education, Scientific and cultural Organization     (UNESCO), ---The International Monetary Fund (IMF), ---The International Bank of Reconstruction and Development,     World Bank, ---World Trade Organization (WTO), ---South Asian association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), ---India is also a member of 12 additional organizations of the UN     system such as ASEAN, IAEA, ILO, FAO, WHO and UPU. -Source: Microsoft Encarta Home                                                                                                   Top