As a country with diverse characteristics, India’s development experience evinces interest among many. India has the second largest population in the world but is only seventh biggest in geographical area. The country possesses a wide and varied resource base and has a rich tradition of science, technology and culture. Although the economy is primarily agrarian in character, it has a diversified industrial base with a well developed heavy and capital goods sector presenting the image of a newly industrializing country. Yet the general impression of India is that of a stagnant and abysmally poor country with slow rates of growth in national output, low per capita income, and a poor physical quality of life index. India’s development experience has thus come to be seen as a paradox.