India – a subcontinent which stretches from the Himalayas in the North to Sri Lanka in the
South. More than 100 languages are spoken in India. A lot of great religions, e.g. Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam or Christianity can be found in India. Every attempt to
describe India will be insufficient in the light of the diversity of the world’s largest republic.
Keywords like Bollywood, IT, yoga, cricket, Indian Railways, Sanskrit or textile industry
describe only a few facets of this country.

 Name of country
 Republic of India
Hindi: Bharatiya Ganarajya
 Capital
 New Delhi
 Population
 approx. 1.2 billion
 Area
 3.287.000 km2
 Official languages
 Hindi and English
 Other recognised languages
 Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Panjabi, Assamese, Maithili, Santali, Kashmiri; furthermore Konkani, Dogri, Nepali, Sindhi, Manipuri, Bodo, Sanskrit
Religions
 Hinduism approx. 80%, Islam approx. 13%,
Christianity approx. 2%, Sikhism approx.
1,9%, furthermore Buddhism, Jainism,
Parseeism and other religions
 Climate
 North and Central India: subtropical
continental climate
 
South India and coastal areas: tropical climate
 
Monsoon: June to September/October
 Form of government
 Secular republic (in the Commonwealth)Parliament:
House of the People (Lok Sabha): 545
members, elected every 5 years;
Council of States (Rajya Sabha): 245
members, partial election every 2 years
Election of the Head of State by the electoral college every 5 yearsRight to vote from the age of 18
 Administrative structure
 28 states, 6 union territories, National Capital
Territory Delhi
 Public holidays
 26 January: Republic Day (26 January 1950: commencement of the Constitution)15 August: Independence Day (India has been independent since 15 August 1947)
 Embassy
Tiergartenstr. 17, 10785 Berlin
Telephone +49 (0)30 257950,
Fax +49 (0)30 25795102
www.indianembassy.de
 Currency
Indian Rupee (INR); 1 Rupee = 100 PaiseHere you find a currency converter
 Gross domestic product per capita
 Approx. 1,229 billion Euro
 Income per capita
 Approx. 1,022 Euro
 Time shift
  + 4.5 hours (to Germany)
 International phone code
 0091

 

Here are a few helpful links for the preparation of an internship in India.

General information on India:
Foreign Office India
Federal Agency for Political Education
Deutsch-Indische Gesellschaft E.V. (German-Indian Association)
Indien Aktuell (news on India)
India on Wikipedia
TravelIndia

Current news on India in English:
THE HINDU
The Times of India
The Indian Express
Hindustan Times

Further links:
Goethe Institute Max Mueller Bhavan