As a result of implementation of various short and long-term programmes included in these plans, we have been able to achieve considerable break-through in agriculture and industry. The programmes aimed at boosting agricultural production included those relating to land reforms, dissemination of knowledge about new techniques for better farming, provision of basic facilities like irrigation, transport, electricity to the remotest parts of the country and facilities for credit and marketing. All these programmes resulted in substantial increase in agricultural production.
 
This has helped to bring about a green revolution in the country which is universally recognised as a remarkable achievement. This has made India, once deficit in food, self-sufficient in food production.

Industries in India have also registered a phenomenal growth since Independence. The country that used to import paper pins in 1938, is today considered amongst the top ten industrial countries in the world.

She leads other countries in the production of tea, cotton yarn and bicycles and is amongst the leading countries which produce coal, sugar, cement, steel, fertilisers etc.

The manufacture of advanced light helicopter in 1992, amounts to an excellent tribute to Indian Aviation.
 
India Economy

 India's economy is a mixture of traditional village farming and handicrafts, modern agriculture, old and new branches of industry, and a multitude of support services. It presents both the entrepreneurial skills and drives of the capitalist system and widespread government intervention of the socialist mold. Growth of 4-5% annually in the 1980s has softened the impact of population growth on unemployment, social tranquility, and the environment. Agricultural output has continued to expand, reflecting the greater use of modern farming techniques and improved seed that have helped to make India self-sufficient in food grains and a net agricultural exporter. However, tens of millions of villagers, particularly in the south, have not benefited from the green revolution and live in abject poverty, and great numbers of urban residents lack the basic essentials of life. Industry has benefited from a partial liberalization of controls. The growth rate of the service sector has also been strong. India, however, has been challenged more recently by much lower foreign exchange reserves, higher inflation, and a large debt service burden.

GDP: exchange rate conversion - $328 billion, per capita $380; real growth rate 2.5% (FY92 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 12.0% (1991)
Unemployment rate: 20% (1991 est.)
Budget: revenues $38.5 billion; expenditures $53.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $11.1 billion (FY92)
Exports: $20.2 billion (f.o.b., FY91)
commodities: gems and jewelry, engineering goods, clothing, textiles, chemicals, tea, coffee, fish products
partners: EC 25%, US 16%, USSR and Eastern Europe 19%, Japan 10% (1989)
Imports: $25.2 billion (c.i.f., FY91)
commodities: petroleum products, capital goods, uncut gems, gems, jewelry, chemicals, iron and steel, edible oils
partners: EC 33%, Middle East 19%, US 12%, Japan 8%, USSR and Eastern Europe 8% (1989)
External debt: $72.0 billion (1991 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 8.4% (1990); accounts for about 25% of GDP
Electricity: 80,000,000 kW capacity; 290,000 million kWh produced, 330 kWh per capita (1991)
Industries: textiles, food processing, steel, machinery, transportation equipment, cement, jute manufactures, mining, petroleum, power, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics
Agriculture: accounts for about 30% of GDP and employs 67% of labor force; self-sufficient in food grains; principal crops - rice, wheat, oilseeds, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, potatoes; livestock - cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goats and poultry; fish catch of about 3 million metric tons ranks India among the world's top 10 fishing nations