ABSTRACT
This chapter presents three methods for mapping levels of economic development and applies each to the case of India. The methods include the development-index approach, the consensus approach, and the subjective integration approach. The chapter provides a substantive addition to knowledge about the economic geography of India and demonstrates that even within nations generally recognized simply as "underdeveloped" one can meaningfully map differential sub-levels of development. It presents the critical discussion of the various methods by which maps of economic development can be made. The development-index approach is an attempt to derive for the several states of India composite development scores based on a combination of numerous sub-scores for individual, widely recognized indicators of economic development. The subjective integration approach to the mapping of levels of economic development in India seeks to provide a realistic regionalization of the country, irrespective of the boundaries of the states or other internal administrative divisions for which data happen to be available.
