The Republic of India is a country located in Southern Asia. The country got its name from the Greek word “Indus”, which means “the people who live near the Indus River“, a river flowing from Tibet, into Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of Pakistan. Neighbouring countries are Pakistan in the north-west, China and Nepal in the north, Bhutan and Bangladesh in the north-east, Myanmar in the east and the island of Sri Lanka in the south. The population of India has grown to more than 1.2 billion inhabitants. Nearly 50% of the people are below 25 years, thus a country with great potentials. Most of the people still live in rural areas. However, cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad are growing rapidly.

The history of India dates back to 300 B.C., when a king called Ashoka built an empire called the Maurya dynasty. Later many dynasties came and disappeared after a while. As early as 1856 most parts of today’s India were occupied by the British Empire. In the early 1900s Mahatma Gandhi led a protest movement against the British and set a world-wide symbol of peaceful protests. Finally, in 1947 India became independent from the British Empire and agreed 1950 on a new constitution. Unfortunately, India was involved in many wars since then. Most of them with its neighbour Pakistan, but also with China and Portugal capturing the former Portuguese colony Goa.

The economy of India is with about $ 2.2 trillion GDP the 7th largest of the world. It includes agriculture products, handicrafts, industries such as Automotive, and a big variety of services. The services are a main source of economic growth in India. Due to its large number of well-educated and English-speaking people, India became a pioneer in information technology and all related services (e.g. Off-Shoring, Outsourcing, Call Centre). Through a Governmental Initiative “Make in India” many projects are stipulated, such as developing the infrastructure for industrialisation. Five industrial corridor projects have been identified, planned and launched by the Government of India in the Union Budget of 2014-2015, to provide an impetus to industrialisation and planned urbanisation. In each of these corridors, manufacturing will be a key economic driver and these projects are seen as critical in raising the share of manufacturing in India’s Gross Domestic Product from the current levels of 15% to 16% to 25% by 2022. A National Industrial Corridor Development Authority (NICDA) is being established to converge and integrate the development of all industrial corridors. Projects and programmes are run in such divers sectors as infrastructure, energy, aerospace and defence as well as education. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)  has not only reached out to the moon, but also to the Mars. This demonstrates the ambitions of this country.

Project Management Associates (PMA) is the not-for profit national body of project managers of India. It was formed in 1993 and joined two years later the International Project Management Association. It has more than 1.000 individual and about 70 corporate members, which includes several ministries of the Central Government. Throughout India there are 14 chapters in four regions dedicated to experience exchange and networking. PMA India runs the IPMA 4-L-Certification system and has granted several thousand certificates so far. This year, the first National Project Excellence Awards were given to National Thermal Power Cooperation Ltd. and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. for excellent project achievements. Three project leaders got an award for outstanding personal achievements. PMA India aspires to create a project-oriented India.