The Industrial Region refers to the geographical area where numbers of industries are situated close to each other due to favourable geo-economic conditions and share the benefits of their closeness. Availability of raw material, water, land, labour, capital, power, transport, and market are important factors, which are seen before setting up an industry. There are several indicators used to identify the clustering of industries and also, for demarcating the industrial regions, which are as follows:
- Numbers of industrial units in a region.
- Numbers of industrial workers.
- The population engaged in secondary activities.
- Gross industrial output.
- Production in terms of money.
- Value added by manufacturing.
- Quantum of power used for industrial purposes.
Major Industrial Regions of India
India has several industrial regions. The major industrial regions are the Mumbai-Pune industrial region, Ahmedabad-Vadodra industrial region, Kolkata-Hugli industrial region, Bangalore-Coimbatore industrial region, Chotanagpur industrial region, Gurgaon-Delhi industrial region.
1. Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region
Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region is an important industrial region of the country. It extends from Mumbai-Thane to Pune and also in the adjoining districts of Solapur and Nashik. In addition to Mumbai and Pune, industries have also rapidly grown in Ahmednagar, Kolaba, Satara, Sangli, and Jalgaon districts.
In 1774, the British acquired this island site to develop the Mumbai seaport. The first railway track of 34 km between Mumbai and Thane in 1853 and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, reducing the sea route between India and Europe, further led to the development of this region.
The development of this industrial region is fully connected to the development of the cotton textile industry in India. Moist climate, availability of hydro-power, natural port facilities, skilled labour, and a vast hinterland producing cotton became the major factors for the development of this region.
With the growth of the cotton textile industry, other industries such as the chemical industry, food-processing industries, engineering goods, leather, automobile, pharmaceutical, and film industries also developed in this industrial region.
2. Kolkata-Hugli Industrial Region
The Hugli industrial region is the most prominent industrial region, located as a narrow belt along the banks of the Hugli river. It extends from Bansbaria & Naihati in the north to Birlanagar in the south. Also, Industrial development takes place in the Midnapur district in the west. Kolkata-Haora is the nucleus of the Hugli industrial belt.
The region is well connected with the rich hinterlands of the Ganga-Brahmaputra plains. The availability of agro-raw materials like jute, indigo, and tea, an abundance of water, cheap labour, facilities for export, and the nearness of coal mines (Raniganj and Jharia) are the main factors for the fast growth of this region.
As Kolkata remains the capital of British India from 1773 to 1911, it attracted many industrialists to locate their industries in this region. The first jute mill in the country was established at Rishra in 1855. Tea plantations in Assam & the northern hills of West Bengal, Iron ore deposits in Chotanagpur plateau, and coal fields of Damodar contributed to the development of this industrial region.
Hugli industrial belt specializes in jute and silk production, cotton textiles industry, engineering, automobiles, chemicals, electrical goods, pharmaceutical, food processing, leather footwear, iron and steel industry, light machines, locomotives, fertilizers, and petrochemical industry.
3. Madurai-Coimbatore-Bangalore Industrial Region
This industrial region stretch over the state of Tamil Naidu and the southern part of Karnataka. The region shows great progress after the independence. The good climate conditions, skilled and unskilled labour, availability of cheap power supply from the Mettur, Pykara, Papanasam, Savitri, Sivasamundram dam, and nearness of Chennai, Kochi, Mangalore, Tuticorin seaports contributed to the fast development of this region.
This industrial region is well known for the cotton and silk textile industries, coffee processing industries, leather goods, oil mills, chemical industry, rubber goods, paper, sugar, food processing, and cement industry.
It’s mainly the cotton-producing area of the country. Coimbatore is also known as the Manchester of Tamil Nadu because of having large-scale cotton textile industries.
4. Ahmedabad-Vadodara Industrial Region
The Ahmedabad-Vadodara Industrial region in Gujarat is one of the largest industrial regions in the country. It extends up to Surat and Valsad in the south and Jamnagar in the west. The main factors for its development are the availability of cheap land, availability of cotton in the hinterland, cheap skilled and unskilled labour, port facilities, and nearness of petroleum, hydel, thermal, and nuclear power station.
This region is the second-largest cotton textile industrial centre in the country. Vadodara is an important centre of woollen textile and petrochemical goods, whereas Surat is well known for silk textile and diamond cutting. Other industries in this region include chemical industries, engineering goods, and pharmaceutical products.
The discovery and production of oil in the Gulf of Khambhat area contributed to developing petrochemical industries around Vadodara, Ankleshwar, and Jamnagar. Petroleum refineries at Koyali provide the necessary raw material. Moreover, this region is situated near the Kakrapara nuclear power station, Ukai Hydel Project, and Dhuvaran thermal power station.
5. Chotanagpur Industrial Region
This industrial region is located on the Chota Nagpur Plateau and stretches over Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Southern Bihar, and western parts of West Bengal. The growth of this region is connected to the discovery of coal in the Damodar valley. It is often called the ‘Ruhr of India‘ because of the large concentration of iron and steel industries.
The Chotanagpur region is rich in fossil fuel, metallic, and non-metallic minerals. Iron ore is also found in Jharkhand and Odisha mineral belt. The availability of power from Damodar Valley Corporation and the enormous supply of cheap labour contributed to its development. The Kolkata region provides port facilities and a large market for products produced in this region.
Other industries include heavy engineering, machine tools, cement, paper, fertilizers, and the locomotive industry. The Tata Iron and Steel industry at Jamshedpur, Hindustan Steel Limited at Durgapur, Iron and Steel industry at Burnpur, Rourkela, and Bokaro are the important steel plants in this region.
6. Agra-Delhi-Kalka-Saharanpur Industrial Region
This industrial region developed mainly after independence but is one of the fastest-growing regions of the country. It consists of two industrial belts adjoining the national capital Delhi. One belt stretches over Agra-Mathura-Meerut and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Another belt extends over Faridabad-Gurgaon and Ambala in Harayana.
Being in and around the National Capital, it has a more peaceful industrial environment. The region is situated in the most productive part of the country, providing necessary raw materials for agro-based industries. The nearness of Indra Gandhi International Airport, availability of hydro-power from Bhakra Nangal, and thermal power from Faridabad, Dadri, and Harduaganj have largely helped in the development of this region.
The main industries of this region are textile, sugar, food processing, paper mills engineering, electrical, glass industry, and agricultural machinery.
7. Vishakhapatnam-Guntur Industrial Region
Vishakhapatnam-Guntur industrial region stretches over the Vishakhapatnam district in the north-eastern to Kurnool and Prakasham districts in the south-eastern part of Andhra Pradesh, covering mostly the coastal area. Its industrial development depends upon the ports of Vishakhapatnam and Machilipatnam.
Coal Fields found in the Godavari basin are the main source of energy. The petroleum refinery at Vishakhapatnam provides the necessary raw material for several petrochemical industries. The other industries of this region are textile, sugar, paper, aluminium, cement, light engineering, and fertilizers industry.
8. Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram Industrial region
This industrial region is small compared to the other major industrial regions of the country. It extends over the Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, Alwaye, Allapuzha, and Ernakulam districts of south Kerala.
This region consists of more agriculture products processing units and market-oriented light industries. The main industries of this region are textiles, sugar, rubber, glass, paper, chemical fertilizers, petrochemical industries, food and fish processing, coconut coir products, aluminium, and cement.
Minor Industrial Regions
- Kanpur-Lucknow Industrial region.
- North Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh Industrial region.
- Indore-Ujjain Industrial region in Madhya Pradesh.
- Bhojpur-Munger in Bihar.
- Durg-Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
- Bilaspur-Kobra in Chhattisgarh.
- Assam valley industrial region.
- Darjeeling-Siliguri industrial region.
- Amritsar-Jalandhar-Ludhiana industrial region in Punjab.
- Jaipur-Ajmer in Rajasthan.
- Nagpur-Wardha industrial region in Maharashtra.
- Adilabad-Nizamabad in Andhra Pradesh.
- Dharwar-Belgaum industrial region.
- Kerala coast industrial region.
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