The Republic of India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity and is the world's second fastest growing economy. India is also the second most populous country in the world and the world's largest democracy. It has grown significantly, in both population and strategic importance, in the last twenty years. India has also emerged as an important regional power, possessing one of the world's largest military forces and a declared nuclear weapons capability. Located in Asia and constituting most of the Indian subcontinent, India straddles many trade routes. It shares its borders with Pakistan, the People's Republic of China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Afghanistan. Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Indonesia are nearby island nations in the Indian Ocean. India is home to some of the most ancient civilizations and has given birth to four major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. The country was part of the British Empire before gaining independence in 1947.

Domain extension	in
WHOIS Search	Whois
Internet Service Providers	43 (2000)
Internet users	7 million (2002)
Country Info about India
Country flag		Map of Asia
Conventional Long Form	Republic of India
Conventional Short Form	India
Local Long Form	Info Not Available
Local Short Form	Info Not Available
Former	Info Not Available
Location	Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan
Map References	Asia
Geographic	20 00 N, 77 00 E
Timezone	GMT +5.30     * DST Time
Capital	New Delhi
Population	1,049,700,118
Area (Km2)	3,287,590
Currency	Indian rupee (INR)
Language(s)	English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 14 other official languages: Bengali, 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
Religion(s)	Hindu 81.3%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5% (2000)
Status	UN Country
Membership(s)