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Economically, India often seems like two separate countries: village India, supported by primitive agriculture, where tens of millions live below the poverty line; and urban India, one of the most heavily industrialized areas in the world. Agriculture (about 55% of the land is arable) makes up some 30% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and employs almost 70% of the Indian people. Vast quantities of rice are grown wherever the land is level and water plentiful; other crops are wheat, pulses, sugarcane, jowar (sorghum), bajra (a cereal), and corn. Cotton, tobacco, oilseeds, and jute are the principal nonfood crops. There are large tea plantations in Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The opium poppy is also grown, both for the legal pharmaceutical market and the illegal drug trade; cannabis is produced as well.
Fragmentation of holdings, outmoded methods of crop production, and delays in acceptance of newer, high-yielding grains were characteristic of Indian agriculture in the past, but since the Green Revolution of the 1970s, significant progress has been made in these areas. Improved irrigation, the introduction of chemical fertilizers, and the use of high-yield strains of rice and wheat have led to record harvests, and India became an net exporter of grain in the early 1980s. The subsistence-level existence of village India, ever threatened by drought, flood, famine, and disease, has been somewhat alleviated by government agricultural modernization efforts, but although India's gross food output is sufficient for the the needs of its enormous population, government price supports and an inadequate distribution system still threaten many impoverished Indians with hunger and starvation. An estimated 40% of the population is too poor to afford adequate nourishment regularly.
India has perhaps more cattle per capita than any other country, but their economic value is severely limited by the Hindu prohibition against their slaughter. Goats and sheep are raised in the arid regions of the west and northwest. Water buffalo are raised and there is a large fish catch.
India has forested mountain slopes, with stands of oak, pine, sal, teak, ebony, palms, and bamboo, and the cutting of timber is a major rural occupation. Aside from coal, iron, mica, manganese, and ilmenite, in which the country ranks high, India's mineral resources, although large, are not as yet fully exploited. The Chota Nagpur Plateau of S Jharkhand and the hill lands of SW West Bengal, N Orissa, and Chhattisgarh are the most important mining areas; they are the source of coal, iron, mica, and copper. There are workings of magnesite, gold (in the Kolar gold fields in Karnataka), bauxite, chromite, salt, and gypsum. Despite oil fields in Assam and Gujarat states and the spectacular output (since the 1970s) of Bombay High offshore oil fields, India is deficient in petroleum.
Industry in India, traditionally limited to agricultural processing and light manufacturing, especially of cotton, woolen, and silk textiles, jute, and leather products, has been greatly expanded and diversified in recent years; it employs about 15% of the workforce. There are large textile works at Bombay and Ahmadabad, a huge iron and steel complex (mainly controlled by the Tata family) at Jamshedpur, and steel plants at Rourkela, Bhilainagar, Durgapur, and Bokaro. Bangalore has electronics and armaments industries. India also produces large amounts of machine tools, transportation equipment, chemicals, and cut diamonds (it is the world's largest exporter of the latter) and has a significant computer software industry. Its large film industry is concentrated in Bombay, with other centers in Calcutta and Madras. In the 1990s the government departed from its traditional policy of self-reliant industrial activity and development and worked to deregulate Indian industry and attract foreign investment.
Most towns are connected by state-owned railroad systems, one of the most extensive networks in the world. The train system is made mainly of broad-gauge track (5 ft/2 m) but includes a variety of rail gauges, which makes frequent transshipment necessary; the country is in the process of converting all tracks to broad gauge. Transportation by road is increasing, with the improvement of highways and the introduction of ordinary and luxury bus service on long-distance routes, but in rural India the bullock cart is still an important means of transportation. There are international airports at New Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras. The leading ports are Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Kochi, and Vishakhapatnam. The leading exports are gems and jewelry, clothing, engineering goods, chemicals, computer software, cotton thread, fabric, and handicrafts. The chief imports are machinery, petroleum, fertilizers, and chemicals. India's major trade partners are the United States, European Union countries, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Saudia Arabia, and Japan.
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