- Cotton,
- Jute,
- Textile,
- Iron and steel,
- Aluminium,
- Fertilizer,
- Paper,
- Chemical and pharmaceutical,
- Automobile,
- Cottage,
- Agro-based industries;
Cotton textile industry
Introduction
- The most important industry in India.
- It has a long history.
- World over, the industrial revolution π started with the cotton textile π industry.
- The textile sector can be divided into
- Mill Sector π
- Loom sector
- Power β‘ loom
- Garment π sector
Mill Sector π
- Very large integrated plants
- Have a range of operations like spinning, making Yarns, weaving, and also garments.
Loom sector π§΅
- Small machines mainly weaving machines.
- They are labour-intensive sector
- Based on traditional Handlooms.
- They operate as Small & Cottage sectors
Present trends
- In recent years, the Handloom sector has rapidly declined because of cost issues. π°
- Power β‘ looms have replaced Handlooms and are replacing the traditional labour rapidly
- The Mills have declined and have mostly been declared sick. π€π€’
- The handlooms have been shut down and the fastest growing sectors are power looms.
- Power looms are not as important for employment generation as that of Mills and handlooms.
- In recent times, more than the textile sector, the fastest-growing sector is the garment π sector.
- But India is loosing out its traditional low-cost labour advantage to countries like Bangladesh π§π©, SE Asian βοΈ countries, and China π¨π³.
Locational factors and patterns of Cotton textile industry
The first textile mill was at Fort Gloster π° near Calcutta in 1818. But it was shut down because it was not profitable.
The first profitable mill was set up in Mumbai in 1854. Mumbai was the first region to develop into a major textile centre.
Reasons for Mumbai's success
- Mumbai's port β is convenient in accessing the European market πͺπΊ because the textile sector was largely export-based.
- The Bombay presidency π which provided easy finance and infrastructure.
- It could source coal βοΈ β« for energy from Durban South Africa. πΏπ¦
- As presidency and India centre Mumbai has always attracted cheaper labour π·
- an additional advantage to Mumbai in proximity to cotton-producing areas of Maharashtra.
- the expansion of Mumbai and the development of suburbs has largely because of the expansion of mills.
The Shift from Mumbai
Because of congestion, high land rentals, and militant trade unions agglomeration of Mumbai became increasingly disadvantageous eventually. From Mumbai, the textile sector shifted out and dispersed primarily towards
- Gujarat planes towards Ahmedabad.
- Cauvery basin Coimbatore
- Kanpur
- Punjab towards Ludhiana and Jalandhar
Gujarat planes towards Ahmedabad.
- Manchester of India
- Ahmedabad had the advantage of Karachi port and Kandla port
- it had rich investors like Gujarati passes Sindhis who traditionally e invested in Bombay region
- it was in the vicinity of the cotton-producing region and more advantages position with respect to the cotton-producing region in present Pakistan.

Cauvery basin Coimbatore
- Cauvery basin with its irrigation infrastructure had started to grow cotton as a profitable cash crop
- Coimbatore was a better centre to access the market of South India
- The main cotton centres in the Cauvery basin region are
- Coimbatore
- Karur
- Tirupur
- Erode
Kanpur
- break of bulk
- the bulk is broken and distributed hear
- Kanpur has always been a major transport centre and a major railway junction and a break of the bulk centre. Kanpur therefore the advantage in setting up mills And locally producing textiles to access the market of North India and not simply supply the finished goods from Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
Punjab towards Ludhiana and Jalandhar
- Punjab is a cotton-growing region
- Punjab had investments because of rich large farmers
- Punjab is a better Focal point to access the market of North-West India
Steel Industry
Steel is one of the eight core sectors (Coal, oil, gas, electricity, refinery, fertilizer, cement, and steel). India's development parameters are based on those eight sectors and one of the major determinants of economic growth.
India's modernization was based on the steel sector. Steel as a capital intensive growth pole was increased in 1956 industrial policy. In the second five-year plan, India setup three steel plants in Bhilai, Rourkela, and Durgapur.
India has an advantage of 25% of the world's good grade Hematite iron ore. And there is an abundance of other raw material like Chromium, Manganese, Magnesium and Limestone (flux to remove impurities).
For some time during the 1990s, after the emergence of the IT sector, the steel industry was also referred to as sunset sector. But with the expansion of construction, housing, and focus on manufacturing and heavy engineering steel sector has made a comeback as an important determinant of future economic growth.
The first steel plant was established in 1830 in Porto Novo Tamil Nadu. the first government-owned steel plant was established in 1874 PSE and TISCO 1907. In 1953, three steel plants (hirapur burnpur kulti)were combined to form Bengal steel work and today it is known as IISCO. IISCO was taken over by SALE in 1978. SALE was formed for managing government-owned steel plants because steel industry in India although with not as long history as cotton it has been a major component of India's development.
Locational factors and patterns of steel industry.
steel is a weight losing industry. It is a traditional raw material based industry. The two main aaram materials are coal and iron ore.
old technology was coal-based. Damodar valley.
new technology ore based. The Bessemer converter. Bhadravathi steel plant.
as a part of government policy to encourage private sector and to disperse the steel units mini and micro steel plants have been encouraged which are based on scrap steel. Jindal steel Bhushan steel hisar steel alang steel.
bhilai steel alto located near Dalli Raj hada iron ore mines was constructed mainly as a growth centre for the development of backward Chhattisgarh tribal belt.
Visakhapatnam port-based steel plant primary for export of finished steel to Japan. It uses the iron ore from Bailadila iron ore mines.
Jute industry
- Very important old industry
- traditional industry
- cultivation requires heavy rainfall
- the process requires freshwater retting
- therefore it is located along large rivers and Delta regions.
- Calcutta being port help the condition.
- The jute market was mainly Exports.
- It carried the function of the marketing plan for and market demand was mainly in Europe.
- It is a labour-intensive industry because of the labour of the Bihar, Odisha, Assam was an advantage to the Calcutta region.
- Calcutta also being a presidency has technology investment and infrastructure.
the first jute mill was at rishra. And Hooghly belt became the main centre of jute industry. Mishra Howrah titagarh se Rampur naihati bansberia budge budge belur @ Calcutta.
the export market has been disappearing because jute as a packaging material is replaced by synthetic material.
it was once called the golden fibre because it was the largest foreign exchange earner and also golden in colour.
jute has predominantly survived because it has been able to tap the domestic market. Domestic market uses jute for packing of sugar salt and cement. Jute is used as raw material for paper industry. It is also used as fuel for sugar industry. Sugar industry uses bagasse and jute.
The packaging industry in domestic market has also drastically declined because.
- jute is not waterproof and therefore sugar and cement industry is preferring synthetic.
- The railway's had banned transportation off salt in jute bags because salt corrode and rust the iron wagons of trains.
jute is no longer a major industry of India. it can be revived only if it is made cost effective compared to the synthetic s. Because of environmental causes synthetics husband discouraged and jute is preferred because it is biodegradable. The colour doesn't stay on jute for very long it sheds dust. 1st question is based on agro based industry.
Sugar Industry
Traditional sector
- The traditional industry with a very old history
- India is one of the largest producers of Sugar and has the largest acreage under sugarcane. Sugar is therefore a traditional sector in India.
Weight loosing Industry
- Therefore located towards sugarcane producing areas.
- Looses Sucrose Content if sugarcane is not processed within 48 hours.
Water intensive crop
- Hence it is grown along large rivers and in conditions of irrigation.
- Hence the northern plains of India have been the traditional center for sugar mills.
- Every major village / town aloong Ganga has had an history of Sugar industries like Bhagalpur, Munger, Patna, Varanasi, Allahabad, Saharanpur, Moradabad, etc.
The shift in the Sugar growing regions
- The mills have shifted from Northern Indian plains into
- Cauvery basin
- Black cotton soil region
- Punjab region
Cauvery basin
- Irrigation Infrastructure
- Irrigation infrastructure has made sugar a preferred Cash crop
- Tropical variety crop
- Compared to North plains South India grows a tropical variety of sugar in which has higher sucrose content. It can be grown throughout the year because of the tropical climate and longer growing season
- Longer growing season
- South India has a longer growing season
- It is profitable because the mills are sure of continuous supply of UK train because they operate in the Cooperative sector
- Co-Operative Sector
Black cotton soil region
- Farmers of Deccan Plateau preferred sugarcane to Cotton because cotton is a dicey crop. With irrigation possible sugarcane is the next most profitable crop and is not as unreliable as cotton
Punjab region
- Has good irrigation infrastructure
- It is profitable Cash crop
- But sugarcane of Punjab is subtropical with low sugar content compared to South Indian sugar variety
Fertilizer Industry
- Chemical π§ͺ Industry
- But they are agro-based industries
- Of the NPK fertilizer, India is largely nitrogenous. Potash is almost imported. Phosphate is majorly imported but also produced partially in the country.
- The raw materials for fertilizers are largely imported. Hence fertilizer units are located around ports β and refineriesπ’οΈ. The fertilizer industry is an import-based industry.
- All chemical industries are of three types
- Heavy inorganic chemicals - H2SO4, HNO3, HCl, Na2(SO4)2
- Heavy organic chemicals - polyester thermoplastics like bakelite which can withstand very high heat polybutadiene rubber PVC
- Fertilizer industries
Chemical industry, fertilizers, in particular, require controlled heating. It is possible by traditionally using Naptha which is capable of controlled combustion. The feedstock (Naptha) is 100 per cent imported.
The raw materials requirement is such that industry can only be located along the ports. Madras, Visakhapatnam, Surat, Bhavnagar, Bombay, Kochi, and around 12 ports.
Over the years, the refinery locations have changed. The refinery near the Oil-wells π’οΈβ½ like Dogboi, Ankleshwar. The refinery along pipelines π° like in Kanpur, Jagdishpur, Panipat, Bathinda, Mathura, Hazira, Bijaipur.
The Dispersion of the Fertilizer industry has been towards agriculture π§βπΎ consumption centres like Mathura, Panipat, and Bhatinda refinery.
From port-based to pipeline based and agricultural consumption regions.
The 4 major fertilizer companies in india are
- Food Corporation of India (FCI)
- Sindri @ Dhanbad/Bokaro, Gorakhpur, Ramagundam, Ketri, Talcher.
- National Fertilisers Limited (NFL)
- Panipat, Batinda, Nangal
- Hindustan fertilisers Chemicals Limited (HFCL)
- Durgapur, Barauni, Namrup, Haldia
- Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACTL)
- Cochin and Udyog Mandal in Kerala
Feedstock and Naptha
Over the years there has been a policy to diversify the feedstock and reduce dependance on Naptha because Naptha is imported and Naptha is very volatile in price.
Fertilizer units Are mainly based on the following
- Gas-thermal β½
- Hydroelectric π§β‘
- Nuclear β’οΈ
Gas-thermal β½ power plant based fertilizer unit
- Naharkatiya
- Namrup
- Dhuvaran
Hydroelectric π§β‘ power based fertilizer unit
- Hirakud
- Nangal
- Shivanasamudram
Nuclear β’οΈ power based fertilizer unit.
- Trombay
- Narora
- Kalpakkam

Dispersal of fertilizers
- Port β
- Pipelines π° expand fertilizer industry expand
- Agricultural π¨βπΎπcentres
- Diversifying out of Naptha βͺ has given more options for dispersal.