FDI Policies and Prospects in India

Abstract

In terms of population (981 million in 1999), India represents the second largest market in the world after China. Healthy growth and a steadily rising GDP (US$420 billion by 1999 and approximately 6 per cent annual growth during 1995–98) will eventually propel India into the top league of nations. If measured in purchasing power parities, India’s national product already ranks fifth in the world, after the United States, Japan, Germany and China. Although per capita GDP is still lower than in China, personal disposable income has risen rapidly since 1991 and will double that of the 1990s over the coming decade. Consumption patterns of middle- and upper-class Indians are also shifting towards those of industrialized countries, particularly in urban areas where pre-1990s family values are giving way to individualism, self-expression and spontaneity (Table 6.1).¹