India's economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries and a multitude of support services. Government controls have been reduced on foreign trade and investment, and privatization of domestic output is proceeding steadily. The economy has posted an excellent average growth rate of 7 percent in the decade since 1997, reducing poverty by about 10 percentage points. India is capitalizing on its large numbers of well-educated people skilled in the English language. In a global comparison, India achieved impressive economic growth of 7.3 percent in 2008. Resolute economic reforms and structural change were among the factors that contributed to it. In addition, with the help of international investments, major advances were made in the privatisation of India's government-owned enterprises.Economic expansion has helped New Delhi continue to make progress in reducing its federal fiscal deficit. Easier conditions for imports and exports also contributed to India's leading position on the South Asian market. 

In recent years there has been a marked rise in the number of international industrial concerns setting up a base in India. The automotive industry is well represented among them. In 2007 2.2 mllion vehicles were manufactured in India. In this sector, the subcontinent is one of the biggest growth markets in the Asian region, despite the late international opening in 1992. Sales of private vehicles rose in 2007 by 15 percent to 1.5 million units. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) registered an increase in sales of 12 percent in private vehicles and 4 percent in commercial vehicles for the period April 2007 to March 2008. Continuing strong growth is also being experienced in exports. Exports of private cars and commercial vehicles rose by 14 percent for the period April 2007 to March 2008. Currently the level of car ownership in India is moderate, but with the expansion of the middle classes, this is expected to increase considerably.

(*CIA Fact sheet, www.vda.de, www.acmainfo.com)