India boasts of an economy, which is considered to be the twelfth largest in the world. As predicted by a leading investment bank Goldman Sachs, by the year of 2025 Indiaâ??s economy will be the third largest only behind USA and China. If it continues to grow at this rate, it will not be long, when India can influence the economy of the world as a whole.

 

There was a time, when Indiaâ??s economy was largely agrarian. But over the years, it has diversified and encompasses handicrafts, handlooms, textiles, manufacturing and a multitude of other services. However, a major chunk of the population still is dependent on agriculture directly or indirectly. India also boasts of a young educated population fluent in English. With the arrival of digital age, India has transformed itself in to a favourite hub of back end processing for global outsourcing of customer services and other technical support. It is not only the IT which is seeing a boom, other sectors such as Biotechnology, nanotechnology, pharmaceuticals, aviation, telecommunication and retail are also contributing a lot in its growth.

 

It was in the 90â??s that India opened up it market by taking drastic economic reforms by downsizing the governments control on foreign trade and investment. Until then, it used to take the socialistic approach as there was curb on the private sector participation. As a result of the opening up of the market and privatization of public owned industries, the economy started growing slowly but at a steady pace.

 

However, there are still some challenges which poses a major threat towards itâ??s over all growth. India has a population of 1 billion and it is growing fast. So the real challenge lies in the equal distribution of wealth. Poverty too is a major concern, but it has been declined rapidly after the independence. Along with the sectarian violence and communal riots also pose a major threat towards the stability of economy.

 

With Indian economy going great guns at the moment, it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that the development continues unhindered.

Sonal Arya
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-articles/indian-economy-then-and-now-562531.html