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India

India
	Capital	New Delhi
	Population	1,166,079,217
	Area	3,287,590 sq km
	Language	English, Hindi, other languages
	Currency	India, Rupee (INR)
		100.000000Rs (INR) = 2.245931$ (USD)

India is by all accounts an overwhelming country; it is beautiful in parts, but it is also polluted, poor and overpopulated. The country has always intrigued the rest of the world - Arab traders sailed here, European explorers opened up the spice trade, the ancient Greeks had trading colonies here. India dominated global trade routes even during Roman times when Indian silks were sought after by the nobility. Empires rose and fell throughout the continent. Even through the dominance of the colonial era, India managed to emerge still with its own astonishingly tolerant and diverse culture.

India has the second largest Muslim population in the world and Hindus, Budhists, Jains and Sikhs can trace their routes back here.
 
In recent years, India has been emerging as one of the top IT centres of the world and more foreigners are finding that working and living here is an increasingly attractive option.
 
India is a very densely populated nation with over 1 billion people and the world’s largest democracy. A concerted effort to encourage private sector investment in the 90s has seen the country experience positive economic growth; it also has a wealth of well educated, skilled professionals with good verbal and written English skills which has led to it being one of the biggest outsourcing centres in the world. The majority of the people are involved in agriculture though and there is a huge pressure on the nation to feed its ever growing population. Although Hindi is the national language, there are 14 other official languages. English is very widely spoken and is the political and commercial language.
 

The climate is variable according to where on the sub-continent you are ..and ranges from cold and dry in the north to tropical and humid in the south. The heavy monsoon rains are something that foreigners may not have experienced before and they do take some getting used to, as the infrastructure does not cope well. Storm drains overflow rapidly as they are usually full of rubbish, and the roads, most of which are badly surfaced, become quagmires.
 
The city of Bengaluru (originally Bangalore) in the south is more popular amongst expats as the cultural and work opportunities are greater there and the climate more temperate. There are also modern housing complexes being built here on the outskirts and away from the desperately poverty stricken areas that are common in Indian cities. Dubbed the “garden city” it provides the expatriate a view of both faces of India – the technological boom and the India of bustling markets, vibrant colors, and street side chai wallahs.
 
Health and Senior Living 
Foreign Nationals can retire to India with a valid visa. Visas have to be applied for before entering the country. Foreigners can also buy one residential property with the permission of the Reserve Bank of India.
 
If you stay in India more than six months (the duration of the tourist visa), you will need to register with the local Foreigner's Registration Office. The process is quite bureaucratic, and you do have to attend in person.   Not all offices seem to be up to date on regulations and each person has a different story to tell.

Foreigners are also required to register as such when they check into hotels. 
 
Any foreigner staying more than two years in India must undergo a test for AIDS at a Government Hospital.
 
The art of Health Care in India can be traced back nearly 3500 years and today the tradition of Aryurvedic medicine is still practiced. Primary health centers are the cornerstone of the rural health care system. These facilities are part of a tiered health care system that funnels more difficult cases into urban hospitals while attempting to provide routine medical care to the vast majority in the countryside. Primary health centers and subcenters rely on trained paramedics to meet most of their needs.Conventional medicine is of a high standard and many medical practitioners are trained in Europe and the United States. Medical Tourism has become a very lucrative business in India and although it has its critics, this is offset by the fact that the income from this has supplemented local health care to a high degree.
 
Most doctors and hospital workers have a good command of the English language.
 
Infrastructure 
Telecom has probably been the fastest growing area in the entire economy and the results are impressive. Cellular coverage has extended to most areas of the country and rates have plummeted. Start up costs are unbelievably low and the rates are the lowest in the world - incoming calls are free and outgoing local calls are 5 to 10 US cents a minute. Recent developments in cellular technology make it possible to get the internet through your cellphone with a modem. Internet connections have also increased in number and in quality in the past 5 years. There has been a proliferation of cyber cafes as well.
 
Electricity is cheap but not always reliable and water is supplied in the main cities but in many places is brought in by tankers. It is always safer to buy bottled water for drinking.
 
The highways between the major cities are good, but vary locally and in the rural areas. Most locals travel by bus…or train which has a good and inexpensive network. The trains are notoriously crowded though and not particularly well maintained.
 
Culture and People
re and People For most foreigners, India is overwhelming! The sheer numbers of the people in the towns, the traffic, pollution, noise and abject poverty are too much to cope with.
 
The people are friendly but as a foreigner you will be seen as rich, whether you are or not and this is something to get used to. There is no doubt you can have an interesting life in India, but in certain areas, for example Mumbai, it is not going to be anywhere as cheap as you would imagine.
 
India has a rich collection of heritage buildings, grand vestiges of the Britsh Raj, beaches in Goa, tea gardens in North-east India and deserts in Rajasthan. It has a huge diversity in culture, religion and language and is well known for its hospitality. For action lovers, rafting in the Holy Ganges and mountain climbing in the Great Himalayas can satisfy the need for adventure, and Yoga and meditation camps abound.
 
Most expats however find the culture somewhat alien and assimilating is not really feasible; a large network of expat groups has developed over the past few years and most foreigners congregate in certain centres.