* The number of companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, at more than 6,000, is second only to NYSE.

* Four out of 10 Silicon Valley startups are run by Indians.

* With 800 movies per year , India's film industry overshadows Hollywood.

* The organized lottery market in India is US$7bn (2% of GDP)

* India consumes a fifth of the world's gold output.



* Indians account for 45% of H1-B visas issued by the US every year

* Growing at 6%, in 25 years Indian GDP(on a PPP basis) will be at the same level the US is at today

* Six Indian ladies have won Miss Universe/Miss World titles over the past 10 years.

* Bank deposits in India roughly equal 50% of its GDP C again, among the highest in the world.

* Indian Railways is the largest railway network in the world under single management

* India has the third largest army in the world, nearly 1.5 million strong.

* India is the largest producer and consumer of tea in the world, accounting for more than 30% of global production and 25% of consumption.

* India is the world’s premier center for diamond cutting and polishing. Nine out of every 10 stones sold in the world pass through India.

* India has the highest number of annual bulk drugs filings (77) with USFDA.

* India is home to the largest number of pharmaceutical plants (61) approved by USFDA outside the US.

* India’s Hero Honda is the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer, with 2002 production of 1.7m units.

* Other than US and Japan, India is the only country to have built a super computer indigenously.

* Indian Railways is the largest employer in the world, with a staff of 1.6 million people.

* India is the second largest cement producing country in the world, producing more than 110 m tones.

* Of the fortune 500 companies, 220 outsource their software-related work to India.

* There are 8,500 Indian restaurants in the U.K.15% of the country’s total dining-out establishments.

* India is the largest democracy in the world, with nearly 400m voting in the last national elections.

* India has the second-largest pool of scientists and engineers in the world.

* India has the third largest investor base in the world

* According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds.

* The Kumbh Mela festival, held every 21 years in the city of Allahabad, attracts 25 million people CE more than the population of 185 of the 227 countries in the world.

* The Indian city of Varanasi, also known as Benares, is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world today.

* There are 3.22 million Indians in the US.

* Indians are the richest immigrant class in the US, with nearly 200,000 millionaries.

* India is ranked the sixth country in the world in terms of satellite launches.

* There are over 70,000 bank branches in India among the highest in the world.