http://69.17.111.188/site/c4/w116/downloads/India.pdf India: country background Diverse is the one word that describes India best. With an area approximately one-third the size of the USA, it is home to over one billion people of considerable economic, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and religious diversity. After years of socialist-oriented economy and commercial relations oriented primarily to the Soviet block, in the mid-1980s India initiated economic reforms which started opening up its consumer markets to the western world. Overall, the country has managed to maintain economic growth even during the Asian crisis in 1998. Despite the reforms and economic growth, India continued to heavily restrict imports through the 1990s. However, in compliance with WTO commitments, in 2001 it removed all quantitative restrictions, which led to rapid increase of imports to the country. Nevertheless, the government continues to discourage imports through both tariff and non-ta
