Welcome to Indo American Chamber of Commerce

India

The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world, goes back at least 5,000 years. Aryan tribes from the northwest invaded about 1500 B.C.; their merger with the earlier inhabitants created the classical Indian culture. Arab incursions starting in the 8th century and Turkish in 12th were followed by European traders beginning in the late 15th century. By the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. Nonviolent resistance to British colonialism under Mohandas GANDHI and Jawaharlal NEHRU led to independence in 1947. The subcontinent was divided into the secular state of India and the smaller Muslim state of Pakistan. A third war between the two countries in 1971 resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. Fundamental concerns in India include the ongoing dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, massive overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife, all this despite impressive gains in economic investment and output.

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

Area Comparative :
slightly more than one-third the size of the US

Land Boundaries :
border countries: Bangladesh 4,053 km, Bhutan 605 km, Burma 1,463 km, China 3,380 km, Nepal 1,690 km, Pakistan 2,912 km

Coastline :
7000 km

Climate :
varies from tropical monsoon in south to temperate in north

Elevation extremes :
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Kanchenjunga 8,598 m

Natural Resources :
coal (fourth-largest reserves in the world), iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, titanium ore, chromite, natural gas, diamonds, petroleum, limestone, arable land

Environment current issues :
deforestation; soil erosion; overgrazing; desertification; air pollution from industrial effluents and vehicle emissions; water pollution from raw sewage and runoff of agricultural pesticides; tap water is not potable throughout the country; huge and growing population is overstraining natural resources

Population :
1,045,845,226 (July 2002 est.)

Population growth rate :
1.51% (2002 est.)

Religions :
Hindu 81.3%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5% (2000)

Languages :
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.

Country name :
conventional long form: Republic of India
conventional short form: India

Government type :
federal republic

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

Executive Branch :
chief of state: President Abdul KALAM (since 26 July 2002); Vice President (vacant)
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; election last held NA July 2002 (next to be held NA July 2007); vice president elected by both houses of Parliament for a five-year term; election last held 12 August 2002 (next to be held NA August 2007); prime minister elected by parliamentary members of the majority party following legislative elections; election last held NA October 1999 (next to be held NA October 2004)
head of government: Prime Minister Atal Bihari VAJPAYEE (since 19 March 1998)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister
election results: Abdul KALAM elected president; percent of electoral college vote - NA%; Bhairon Singh SHEKHAWAT elected vice president; percent of Parliament vote - 59.8; Atal Bihari VAJPAYEE elected prime minister; percent of vote - NA%
International organization participation : AfDB, ARF (dialogue partner), AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G- 6, G-15, G-19, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, MIPONUH, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOVIC, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

Economy overview :
India's economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude of support services. Overpopulation severely handicaps the economy and about a quarter of the population is too poor to be able to afford an adequate diet. Government controls have been reduced on imports and foreign investment, and privatization of domestic output has proceeded slowly. The economy has posted an excellent average growth rate of 6% since 1990, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India has large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language; India is a major exporter of software services and software workers. The poor monsoon of mid-2002 has reduced agricultural output substantially.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $2.66 trillion (2002 est.)
GDP Real Growth rate: 4.3% (2002 est.)
GDP Per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,540 (2002 est.)
Industries: textiles, chemicals, food processing, steel, transportation equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery, software
Industrial production growth rate : 4.7% (2002 est.)
Exports: 44.5 billion f.o.b. (2001)
Export Partners: US 20.9%, UK 5.2%, Germany 4.3%, Japan 4.0%, Benelux 3.3% (2000)
Imports: $53.8 billion f.o.b. (2001)
Import Partners: UK 6.3%, US 6.0%, Belgium 5.7%, Japan 3.5%, Germany 3.5% (2000)
Exchange Rate: Indian rupees per US dollar - 48.336 (January 2002), 47.186 (2001), 44.942 (2000), 43.055 (1999), 41.259 (1998), 36.313 (1997)

More Information on Trade

www.tradeportalindia.com/contentmgmt/Desktops2.asp?compid=itpo&itemcode=I011
http://www.gujaratindia.com/links_asp/result.asp?cat=Gujarat%20Government
http://www.resurgentgujarat.com/resurgentgujarat/project_index.htm
More information on UNIDO

Gujarat

Gujarat, since the time of Indus Valley civilization, has been a predominant maritime state. Lothal was the principal port responsible for a boom in international trade from Gujarat in those days. Later, Bhrigukutch currently known as Bharuch was developed as the front-line port catering to trading needs with the African and European countries.

Gujarat with its strategic location serving as the natural gateway of India encompasses 1600 km of long coastline in India, dotted with 41 ports and various Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Software Technology Park at Gandhinagar is developed for promotion of 100% export-oriented software industries in Gujarat.

Gujarat today contributes a share of about 17 to 20% of total exports in India. It is the leader in exports of dyes and intermediates (40%), drugs & pharmaceuticals (45%), diamond, gems & Jewelry (70%) in the country. The state also accounts for a substantial share in exports of textiles & ready-made garments and handicrafts from the country. Other major items that are being exported from the State are petroleum products, chemicals, plastics, food and agro products, ceramics, engineering equipments and minerals. Major export destinations are USA, Italy, UK, Middle East, Hong Kong, Africa, Sri Lanka etc.Forthrightly, Gujarat also ranks fifth in terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) approvals.

Being the state with one of the highest National State Domestic Product (NSDP) growth rate of around 6.5%, Gujarat could anytime qualify to be a member of the G7 nations. It is but natural for international businesses to develop a fondness for the state. The successful joint ventures and establishments of MNC offices here have enhanced the dependence and confidence level of the investors in Gujarat in an immense way.

The prospects and competence of the state make it an obvious choice for all the developed nations, especially USA to have preferred business collaboration with Gujarat. The success story of partnership between Gujarat and USA commenced way back in 1960s. American Cyanamid – the Pharmaceutical giant then ranking among the top 5 in the world, joined hands with the Lalbhai group and established its manufacturing facilities at Atul, Valsad. Eimco Elecon (India) Limited promoted by Environtech Corporation, USA and Elecon Engineering Company Limited was incorporated in the year 1974 and commenced operations at Vallabh Vidyanagar. General Motors India – a joint venture between General Motors Corporation and C.K. Birla Group of Companies invested Rs. 300 crores in establishing its plant at Halol. GM India has brought the latest manufacturing processes and human factor practices to its Halol Plant and therefore has become the benchmark for advanced technologies in the Indian automotive industry.

In fact, Gujarat has been the preferred location for other American giants and leaders like GE Plastics, AT & T, EI Dupont, Shell, ABB, Inductotherm etc. The Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation – a State Government Public Sector Undertaking - is setting up a 600,000 TPA of alumina plant in collaboration with Raytheon Engineering & Construction Inc., USA.

Gujarat has the highest number of NRIs living in USA. This aids networking among the people of this community, developing enterprising outlook and fetching investments back to the native soil. Therefore, today Gujarat as a state and the Gujaratis as a community are well ahead in the field of exports and export related activities.

Therefore on one hand, large American companies have invested in Gujarat, and on the other hand, Gujarati entrepreneurs have likewise expanded their operations by establishing subsidiaries in USA. CPIL Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd. located in Ahmedabad was incorporated in Missouri in March 1999. Contech America Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Contech Software Ltd. is among the recent IT companies to have ventured into setting up their businesses in America.

A closer look to the leading industries of Gujarat would further underline the strong ties between USA and the State of Gujarat, which began a few decades ago.

Textiles & Readymade Garments- The exports of the textiles from India account for about 1/3rd of India’s total exports. These are the biggest foreign exchange earners for India, especially from USA. Ahmedabad, the largest city of Gujarat has gained the title of the “Denim city of India”, with country’s top producers having their manufacturing facilities in and around it. There are around 800 processing units and more than 2.5 lacs powerlooms in the state. Amongst various textiles items, the exports of garments itself account for more than 50% of the total textile exports. The Arvind Mills Ltd. (customers include Capital Mercury, Oxford Shirts in the USA), Reliance Textile Industries Ltd.(E.I. DuPont, USA), Ashima Ltd. (Lee Cooper, GAP, Marks & Spencer, Cone Mills, USA) and so on are some of the largest exporters in this sector. Arvind Mills is infact one of the top five denim manufacturers in the world and ranks close to leading textile manufacturers such as Burlington and Cone Mills of the US in terms of denim capacity. With a growing number of textile products exported to the USA such as home furnishing, garments, etc, Gujarat based companies uphold the spirit of bilateral trade by also importing textile machinery and technology from the US.

Gems & Jewelry- The gems and jewelry industry provides a shining example of achieving international competitiveness. The diamond processing industry has actually expanded from the state of Gujarat, which accounts for almost 80% of the diamonds processed in India. Surat, Ahemedabad and Bhavnagar are the diamond centers in Gujarat. Approximately, 36% of total exports of diamond, 50% of precious metals and 55% of gold from India is exported to USA. And 70% of these total exports are contributed from Gujarat. The Gujarat gems and jewelry units have network of their offices worldwide. Almost all the units have their marketing offices in the US, particularly in New York.

Chemical and Petrochemical Industry- The size of the global chemical and petrochemical market is to the astronomical tune of US$1.5 trillion. Consistently over the last two decades, it has grown at the rate of 1.5 times the world GDP growth rate. The size of the Indian chemical and petrochemical Industry is approximately US $ 28 billion. Highly skilled scientific manpower pool, proven capability of chemical process development and agro feedstock base is the strengths of this industry in India. The largest grass root Petroleum refinery of the world by Reliance Petroleum -Jamnagar, was commissioned in Gujarat in 1999. Jamnagar-Vadodara-Gandhar-Surat is the major belt of the Chemical plants in the state. Few major companies of Gujarat exporting to USA are Atul Ltd. (Atul Americas Inc. is the wholly owned subsidiary located in North Carolina, USA ), Indian PetroChemicals Corporation Ltd. On the other hand, refineries like Reliance Petroleum Refinery Ltd, Essar Ltd and others are regularly importing crude oil through American Companies.

Pharmaceutical industry- Gujarat always led the nation in Pharmaceutical sector with at least two of the top ten manufacturers in the country based in Gujarat at any point of time. Today, India is in a position to meet 70 per cent of its requirement of bulk drugs and almost all its requirement of formulations. Many units in Gujarat have been producing variety of bulk drugs & formulations since last three decades. Infact, for the past two decades, exports of some of these items to the US have been steadily rising. Several manufacturing units in Gujarat have UL and FDA approvals and more are vying for the same. Some of the major players in Gujarat like Torrent Pharmaceutical ltd. (marketing co alliance with Pfizer USA), Alembic ltd (tie-up with Cognis Health and Nutrition, USA), Zydus Cadila (Onconova Therapeutics Inc. USA), have contributed to the progress of pharmaceutical exports and strengthen the ties between Gujarat and USA.

Information Technology & IT Enabled services- This sector though young, has the maximum partnerships visible , between US and Gujarat. Due to high level of entrepreneurship, coupled with strong ties with NRIs, Gujarat has been registering increasing number of collaborations with US since last four to five years in Information Technology. Gujarat is also poised to achieve a quantum jump in growth in Communication & Networking infrastructure over the next 3 to 5 years. An anticipated investment of Rs. 25,000 crore is expected to fuel this growth. Already this sector has invested about Rs. 10,000 crore during past five years. Another achievement has been completion of Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN), one of the largest wide area networks in Asia. GSWAN has the capability to connect 225 districts out of 230. All the major departments of Government of Gujarat like health, education, transportation etc. are in advanced stage of digitlization. All sectors of this industry viz, IT Enabled services (leading companies in Gujarat like Ace software Exports ltd, Motif Infotech India ltd.), software services (Contech software ltd, Applitech solution ltd.), Education & Training, Communication & Network (Fascel Ltd., Tata Teleservices, Reliance Telecom ltd.), Hardware etc, are all closely working with USA for exports as well as imports. The success story of Gujarat on industrial front at national and international echelon is attributed to the entrepreneurship of Gujarat’s businessmen. This credit squarely rests with government and voluntary institutions acting as facilitators and organizations providing support services.

Industrial Extension Bureau of the Government of Gujarat under the direct stewardship of the Industries Commissioner acts as a ‘Single Window’ to coordinate between various government bodies and corporations.

Thirsty as ever to progress continually, the enterprise called Gujarat is not only in the process of identifying new avenues of investment opportunities in the state but is also persistently gaining a considerable share of the American trade with India.

The official Website of Govt. of Gujarat focuses on the Industry, e-governance, major policies and projects, for the details, http://www.gujaratindia.com/index.htm

http://www.gujaratindia.com/Statistics/index.htm

For Gujarat Industrial policy, visit the official website of Industrial Extension Bureau ( iNDEXTb)

When Gujarat is the Dream Destination blessed with all other resources, GIIC's omnipresence makes all the difference as the 'Resource' for industrial development.
As a Development Banker and Entrepreneur, GIIC has partnered in progress of Gujarat by promoting industries covering wide spectrum such as Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Engineering, Electronics, Automobiles, Service Sectors. It is now poised to take up promoting investment in the `Infrastructure ' front - Power, Port, Roads and related sectors.
With a team of highly professional managers to help, advice, guide and direct, GIIC is an Institution you can bank upon to meet your financial needs. Meet GIIC-Gujarat Industrial Investment Corporation Financier, Promoter and Partner in Industrial Progress.

Industrial policy of Gujarat (2000)

Gujarat gets its name from "Gujjar Rashtra", the land of the Gujjars, a migrant tribe who came to India in the wake of the invading Huns in the 5th century. The history of Gujarat dates back to 2000 BC. It is also believed that Lord Krishna left Mathura to settle on the west coast of Saurashtra at Dwarka. About general information on Gujarat, cities, festivals, Hill stations, pilgrim centers, tourist centers, education .To know more about Gujarat, visit the website http://www.gujaratplus.com/web/gujarat/info/index.htm
More about Gujarat http://www.indiaprofile.com/businessandindustry/gujarat.htm
An excerpt from the speech Mr. David Good, the US Consul General in India , at Indo American Chamber of Commerce http://www.ahmedabad.com/business/2k/jan/29us.htm

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