Energy industry
India’s energy consumption has risen sharply in the course of industrialization (around 10% per year). Electricity generation amounted to 1.56 million GWh in 2018; of this, hydropower plants supplied 9%, thermal power plants 81%, the remainder accounted for 7.8% from renewable energies and 2.2% from nuclear-generated energy. The use of energy has improved, but the generation of energy has not been able to cover the steadily increasing demand for years, and in hydropower plants it also suffers from fluctuations in water levels and generally from high transmission losses. In view of the general shortage of public funds, the Indian government has partially privatized the energy sector and split the former state monopolists into independent companies for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. Nuclear powered; In 2019, 22 reactor units were in operation.
Industry
Industrial development has made great strides since independence when India produced only a limited number of industrial products. With the nationalization of heavy industry and a number of other sectors, extensive protection of the domestic market and small industry as well as restrictive requirements for the remaining foreign capital, a diversified industrial structure was built up at considerable financial expense, which meets the needs of India except for a small amount of residual imports (especially for capital goods) could cover himself. Decreasing dynamism and low job effects of this industrialization, high deficits of the state enterprises, Above all, however, weak exports and the poor quality and technological level of Indian industrial production have brought about an almost complete change in industrial policy since the mid-1980s and especially since 1991. The production licenses were gradually relaxed or abolished, the tariffs (mainly on semi-finished products and capital-intensive goods) reduced, sectors reserved for state-owned companies opened to private capital and the restrictions on foreign capital almost entirely abolished. Industrial growth has increased significantly since the mid-1980s (initially to over 8% per year, 2017: 5.5%). The share of the manufacturing industry in GDP was 26.5% in 2017 (1980: 20%). Heavy industry, especially mechanical engineering and steel processing, is largely in state hands. The largest industrial sectors are textile and clothing production, telecommunications technology, the chemical industry, food processing, mechanical engineering and metal processing.
Services
The service sector generates 48.5% of GDP (2017) and employs 33.5% of the workforce. The focus is on financial and business services as well as trade, tourism and communication. Software engineering and biotechnology are highly developed and can hold their own in the world market.
Tourism: The subcontinent India offers numerous and very different travel destinations due to its scenic and ethnic-cultural diversity. Tourists and pilgrims flock to Delhi, the Taj Mahal in Agra or the holy city of Varanasi on the Ganges. Visit behealthybytomorrow.com for India for all the senses.
India used to be famous for its big game hunting, but today many holidaymakers visit the nature parks and wildlife sanctuaries (including the Gir National Park). However, in many places there is a lack of infrastructure that meets western standards. The number of foreign visitors rose from 410,000 (1973) to 8.8 million (2017), although it fluctuates considerably. They came mainly from China, the USA, Great Britain and neighboring countries in South Asia.
Transportation
With a route network of (2014) 68,525 km, India has the largest railway network in Asia and the fourth largest in the world. The railway companies were nationalized before independence and come under the jurisdiction of the Union government. They are also the largest employer in the country. The main lines of the route network connect the overseas ports with the most important industrial areas and the metropolises of the country and these with each other. Extensive construction projects, including above all the electrification of many lines and the conversion from narrow to broad gauge, as well as the mostly single-track systems hinder the speed of transport, especially freight traffic.
India also has one of the world’s largest road networks, which is being modernized at considerable expense. This applies above all to the trunk roads (2015: 96,200 km), some of which have been extended to four or six lanes. In particular, the four metropolises of Delhi, Mumbai , Kolkata and Chennai are to be connected in a cross shape (“Golden Quadrilateral”). Another program provides for the connection of all towns with more than 1,500 residents with all-weather roads. Road freight transport is almost exclusively in private hands. The overall traffic density has increased sharply with the rapidly increasing proportion of cars and is a serious economic obstacle, especially in urban agglomerations.
Inland navigation has lost its importance due to the construction of the railways and later the construction of irrigation systems and weirs; of the approximately 14,500 km of navigable rivers, only around 3,700 km are used (mainly for transporting ore). Maritime shipping suffered for a long time from India’s decoupling from the world market and the technically outdated port facilities (therefore too long lay times); A good part of the trade with India therefore ran through the Singapore hub. The government has been trying for some time to stop this trend by building new ports. The main ports are Mumbai, Chennai, Kandla , Visakhapatnam and Kolkata.
Air traffic plays an important role in the long domestic distances, but the international importance of Indian airports has suffered due to the restrictive policy in granting landing rights to foreign airlines. The largest airline is the state-owned Air India. India has more than 350 airports, 17 of which are international (mainly Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram).
