Indian economy crosses trillion dollar mark
Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi
Powered by growth in services and manufacturing sectors, coupled with an appreciating rupee, India's economy has swelled to a trillion dollar - making it the 12th nation to reach this milestone. According to government data released on Thursday, the country's economy at market prices stood at Rs 41,25,724 crore at the end of fiscal 2006-07 -- which equals nearly 1,010 billion dollars at the current foreign exchange rate of the rupee. However, the rupee's level at the end of last fiscal was near 43 against the greenback, which puts the GDP in dollar terms at 957 billion dollars. The economy's trillion-dollar milestone comes just three days after the Indian stocks' combined value crossed this level. The market capitalisation as of March end was 805.2 billion dollars. India becoming a trillion dollar economy also augurs well for the country's stock market, as a Credit Suisse report said stock markets in eight out of ten countries had risen in the one year after their economies first crossed this mark. Companies have lined up plans to tap the capital market to raise over Rs 50,000 crore (around 12 billion dollars), which would lift the cumulative market capitalisation at Indian bourses by over 100 billion dollars. Only the US, Japan, Germany, China, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, Brazil and Russia have breached the trillion-dollar GDP level in the past, according to Credit Suisse.
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