Location: Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan Area: total: 3,287,590 sq km land: 2,973,190 sq km water: 314,400 sq km Climate: varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north Terrain: upland plain (Deccan plateau) in south, flat to rolling plain along the Ganges, deserts in west, Himalayas in north Capital: New Delhi Administrative divisions: 28 states and 7 union territories; Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Pondicherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal Population: 1,080,264,388 (2005 est.) Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% Nationality: noun: Indian(s) adjective: Indian Languages: Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of the people, English is widely used; there are 14 other official languages: Benga li, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit. Hindustani is a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India but is not an official language. Religions: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.9% Literacy: 59.5%

Government type: federal republic Executive branch: • chief of state: President A.P.J. Abdul KALAM (since July 2002); Vice President Shri Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT (since August 2002) • head of government: Prime Minister Manmohan SINGH (since May 2004) • cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister • elections: president elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of both houses of Parliament and the legislatures of the states for a five-year term National Holiday: Republic Day, 26 January (1950) ACD Member: ACD Member since 2002 Prime Mover (PM) on Working Group: Transport Linkages, Biotechnology Co-Prime Mover on Working Group: None India government official web site : www.india.gov.in

Currency (Code): Indian rupee (INR) GDP: $3.678 trillion (2005 est.) GDP per capita: $3,400 (2005 est.) Exports - commodities: textile goods, gems and jewelry, engineering goods, chemicals, leather manufactures Exports - partners: US , UAE , China , Hong Kong , UK , Singapore Imports - commodities: crude oil, machinery, gems, fertilizer, chemicals Imports - partners: China , US , Switzerland , Belgium Agriculture - products: rice, wheat, oil seed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes; cattle, water buffalo, shhep, goats, poultry; fish Industries: textles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation, equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software Source : The World Fact Book 2005 (www.cia.gov)