Some Quick Facts About India

India is the largest country in the Subcontinent and shares borders with Pakistan to the west, China and Nepal to the north, Bhutan to the north-east, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia lie to the south-east in the Indian Ocean. It is the seventh largest country in the world by area and, with over a billion people, comes a close second to China in population. It's an extremely diverse country, with vast differences in geography, climate, culture, language and ethnicity across its expanse, and prides itself on being the largest democracy on Earth.  For hotel bookings visit http://hotelrates.com

Full Name
Republic of India

Capital City
New Delhi

Area
3,287,590 sq km

1,269,338 sq miles

Population
1,000,000,000

Time Zone
GMT/UTC +5.5 ()

Daylight Saving Start
not in use

Daylight Saving End
not in use

Languages
Hindi (official)

Although it is India's national language, Hindi is only spoken as a mother tongue by about 20% of the population, mainly in the area known as the Hindi-belt, the cow-belt or Mimaru, which includes Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. This Indic language is the official language of the Indian government and the states already mentioned, plus Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Urdu (official)

Urdu is the state language of Jammu and Kashmir. Along with Hindi, it evolved in early Delhi. While Hindi was largely adopted by India's Hindu population, the Muslims embraced Urdu, and so the latter is written in the Perso-Arabic script and includes many Persian words.

Tamil (official)

An ancient Dravidian language at least 2000 years old, and the state language of Tamil Nadu. It is spoken by around 65 million people.

Bengali (official)

Spoken by nearly 200 million people (mostly in what is now Bangladesh), and the state language of West Bengal. Developed as a language in the 13th century.

Kashmiri (official)

Kashmiri speakers account for about 55% of the population of Jammu and Kashmir. It is an Indic language written in the Perso-Arabic script.

Kannada (official)

Over 2000 years old, Kannada is spoken by over twenty million people worldwide and is the official language of the state of Karnataka.

Marathi (official)

An Indic language dating back to around the 13th century, Marathi is the state language of Maharashtra.

Gujarati (official)

State language of Gujarat, it is an Indic language.

Telugu (official)

Telugu is the Dravidian language spoken by the largest number of people;it is the state language of Andhra Pradesh. Malayalam is also a Dravidian language; it's the state language of Kerala.

English (essential)

A product of British rule, English is still widely spoken and written in most Indian states 50 years after independence.

Religion
82% Hindu, 12% Muslim, 2.3% Christian, 1.9% Sikh, 0.8% Buddhist, 0.5% Jains, 0.5% other

Currency
Indian Rupee (Rs)

Electricity
230-240V 50HzHz