India, officially the Republic of India (Bhrat Gaarjya),[e] is a country in South Asia.

It is
the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country (with over 1.2 billion people),
and the most populous democracy in the world. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south,
the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders
with Pakistan to the west;[f] China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast; and Myanmar
(Burma) and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and
the Maldives. India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border
with Thailand and Indonesia.
The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE.
In the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed.
Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE,
and Buddhism and Jainism arose. Early political consolidations took place under
the Maurya and Gupta empires; the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far
as Southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived,
and Sikhism emerged, all adding to the region's diverse culture. Much of the north fell to the Delhi
sultanate; the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th
century in the Mughal Empire. In the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East
India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged
in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent
resistance and led to India's independence in 1947.
In 2016, a survey on World Tourism rankings compiled by United Nations World Tourism
Organization, the nation is visited by approximately 14.6 million tourists every year (2016), making it
the 8th most visited country in the Asia-Pacific.
In 2017, the Indian economy was the world's sixth largest by nominal GDP and third
largest by purchasing power parity.[16] Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India
became one of the fastest-growing major economies and is considered a newly industrialised
country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition,
and inadequate public healthcare. A nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third
largest standing army in the world and ranks fifth in military expenditure among nations. India is
a federal republic governed under a parliamentary system and consists of 29 states and 7 union
territories. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is also home to a diversity
of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.
The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu.[19] The
latter term stems from the Sanskritword Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for
the Indus River.[20] The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi(), which translates as
"The people of the Indus".[21]
The geographical term Bharat (Bhrat, pronounced [bart ] ( listen)), which is recognised by
the Constitution of India as an official name for the country,[22] is used by many Indian languages in
its variations. It is a modernisation of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which traditionally referred
to the Indian subcontinent and gained increasing currency from the mid-19th century as a native
name for India.[23][24] Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bhratas in the second
millennium BCE.[25] It is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary
emperor Bharata.[26] Gaarjya (literally, people's State) is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for "republic"
dating back to the ancient times.[27][28][29]
Hindustan ([ndst an] ( listen)) is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century BCE. It
was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then. Its meaning varied, referring to
a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety.[23][24][30] Currently, the
name may refer to either the northern part of India or the entire country.[30]