Official Name: Republic of India/Bharatiya Ganarajya
Geographical Location: Location of India: Southern Asia. Latitude: 8.4° to 37.6° North. Longitude: 68.7° to 97.25° East. Neighboring Countries: Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Myanmar and China. Seas/Oceans: Arabian Sea to the West, Bay of Bengal to the East and Indian Ocean to the South. Islands: Lakshadweep Islands in Arabian Sea, Andaman and Nicobar Islands in Bay of Bengal.
India shares borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan to the northwest, China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north, Myanmar and Bangladesh to the east. Sri Lanka is separated from the southernmost tip of India by the narrow Palk Straits and the Gulf of Mannar.
Area: 3,287,263 km2 (7th largest in the world)
Population: 1.43 billion (2024 est.)
Structure of the state: Union of 28 states and 8 Union territories.
Polity: Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Republic
President: Smt. Droupadi Murmu
Vice President: Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar
Prime Minister: Shri Narendra Modi
Speaker of the House: Shri Om Birla
Chief Justice: Justice D.Y Chandrachud
Parliament of India: Upper house (Rajya Sabha) Lower house (Lok Sabha)
Major cities/towns: Capital – New Delhi. A significant proportion of India’s 1.43 billion people live in urban centers, the four largest being Delhi (16 million), Mumbai (20 million), Kolkata (15.2 million), and Chennai (7.4 million). Other cities like Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore etc. are rapidly developing into major centers of commerce and industry.
Climate: India has a varied continental climate with spring from March-April, summer from May-October and winter from November-February. Tropical monsoon stretches from June-August and post-monsoon or northeast monsoon season from Oct-Dec. Most of the rainfall is brought by the southwest monsoon. Owing to the geographical diversity, regional climatic conditions in the extreme north, east and west can differ vastly.
Indian Standard Time: IST is equal to GMT + 5 hours and 30 minutes. Summer time not observed.
Languages: The official languages of the Republic of India are Standard Hindi (41% of the country speaks Standard Hindi or another Hindi dialect) and English. In addition, the Constitution of India recognizes 22 languages. Individual states, whose borders are mostly drawn on socio-linguistic lines, are free to decide their own language for internal administration and education. Further, there are more than 1,500 dialects in India.
Religions: India is a secular country with no state religion. Major religions include Hindu 79.8%, Muslim 14.2%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.7%, other and unspecified 2% (2011 est.)
Currency: One Indian rupee (INR) = 0.012 US dollar approximately (INR 83.05/US$)
Fiscal Year: 1st April to 31st March.
Independence from the United Kingdom: Dominion: 15 August 1947. Republic: 26 January 1950.
GDP (PPP) 2023 estimate: Total: USD 13.12 trillion
GDP (nominal) 2023 estimate: Total: USD 3.7 trillion
Internet TLD: .in
Calling code: +91
February 2024
