Industrial Regionalisation | Geography Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Industrial Regions

• Industrial regions refer to areas with a high concentration of industries due to favorable geographical and economic conditions. In these regions, manufacturing is conducted on a large scale, employing a significant portion of the population. An industrial region can be quite large, such as the Ruhr in Germany, or make up a substantial portion of a country, like the Midlands in the UK.
• These regions often develop around natural resources such as coal or iron ore, or a water supply. They are typically well-connected by transportation networks, such as railways. Furthermore, industrial regions may not be homogeneous, meaning they may consist of various unrelated types of manufacturing within the same area. For example, an industrial region might include steel production, power generation, primary food processing, and service industries like education. This is because such areas require more labor than a single industrial complex, leading to the development of residential areas nearby or within the region.
• Several geographers have attempted to delineate industrial regions based on empirical data, using different parameters. Some of these parameters include the number of industrial units, the number of industrial workers, the population engaged in secondary activities, the percentage of industrial workers to total workers, the amount of power used for industrial purposes, the total industrial output, and the value added by manufacturing.
• The concept of industrial districts was first introduced by Alfred Marshall to describe certain aspects of a nation's industrial organization. An industrial district is an area where workers and firms specializing in a primary industry and its auxiliary industries live and work. Since the late 1990s, industrial districts in developed and developing countries have gained recognition in international discussions on industrialization and regional development policies.
• Industrial regions form when multiple industries locate close to each other and benefit from their proximity. They tend to cluster in specific locations due to favorable locational factors. Various indices are used to identify the clustering of industries, including the parameters mentioned above.

Industrial Regions of India

• India has several industrial regions like Mumbai- Pune cluster, Bangalore-Tamil Nadu region, Hugli region, Ahmedabad-Baroda region, Chottanagpur industrial belt, Vishakhapatnam-Guntur belt, Gurgaon-Delhi-Meerut region, and the Kollam Thiruvananthapuram industrial cluster.
• Industrial Regions can be demarcated into two types:
  (i) Major Industrial Regions
  (ii) Minor Industrial Regions

The Major Industrial Regions of India

In the demarcation of industrial regions, most of the experts divided India into six major Industrial Regions. A brief description of the industrial regions of India as demarcated by Prof. R.L. Singh is:

The Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region

• The Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region is the most significant industrial area in India. Its development can be traced back to the arrival of the British in India, who established the Mumbai seaport. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 significantly reduced the sea route between India and Europe, further contributing to the growth of this industrial region.
• The region's development is closely linked to the history of the cotton textile industry in India. Factors such as the humid climate, natural port facilities, hydro-power availability, skilled labor, and a vast cotton-producing hinterland have contributed to the establishment of this industrial region. There are over 8,000 registered factories in the greater Mumbai area alone, with 350 of these being cotton textile factories.
• Apart from the textile industry, the region is also home to engineering goods, chemical industries, food processing industries, leather goods, pharmaceuticals, and film industries. In Mumbai, the majority of production focuses on light-textured, fine, and super fine cotton cloths. Over 1.5 million people are employed in this region's industrial sector.
• Pune serves as the region's second most important industrial center, with more than 1,200 registered factories. The city's industries focus on metallurgy, chemicals, engineering, and automobile goods, and it also houses two factories producing scooters and mopeds.
• In addition to Mumbai and Pune, other notable industrial centers in the region include Ambarnath, Andheri, Bhandup, Ghatkopar, Hadapsar, Jogeshwari, Kalyan, Kirkee, Kolhapur, Kurla, Nashik, Sholapur, Thane, Trombay, Ulhasnagar, and Vikroli.

This industrial region has almost reached the saturation level. Some of the important problems of this industrial region are:

• Inadequate supply of power
• Obsolete and outdated machinery
• High cost of land and high rent of commercial space
• Labour unrest
• Increasing regionalism
• High rate of crime
• Increasing environment pollution

The partition of the country in 1947 adversely affected this region because 81% of the total irrigated cotton area growing long-staple cotton went to Pakistan. Mumbai, the nucleus of this industrial region, is facing the current limitation of space for the expansion of the industry. Dispersal of industries is essential to bring about decongestion.

The Kolkata-Hugli Industrial Region

• The Kolkata-Hugli industrial region is located along the banks of the Hugh River.
• Industries have also developed in the Midnapur district in the west. The river Hugli offered the best site for the development of an inland river port as a nucleus for the development of the Hugli industrial region.
• The availability of Agro-Raw Material (jute, indigo, and tea), nearness of coal mines (Raniganj and Jharia), abundance of water, cheap labour and facilities of export are the main factors which helped in the fast growth of this industrial region.
• Moreover, Kolkata was the capital of British India from 1773 to 1911. Being the capital, Kolkata attracted many of the industrialists to locate their industries in this region.
• There are over 10, 0000 registered industrial factories in this region in which over 20 lakh people are engaged.
• This belt specializes in the production of jute, silk, cotton textile, engineering, electrical goods, automobiles, chemicals, pharmaceutical, transport equipment, leather-footwear, iron and steel and food processing, light machine, locomotives, iron and steel, and spare goods for different types of machines.
• The main industrial cities and towns of this region are, Naihati, Bhatpara, Shamnagar, Krishnanagar, Serampore, Titagarh, Rishra, Kolkata, Haora, Budge.
• The main problems of this industrial region are:
  • Paucity of space and traffic jams
  • Shortage of drinking water, insanitation and lack of infrastructural amenities.
  • Silting of the Hugli river resulting in the silting of Kolkata port
  • Obsolete machinery
  • Naxalites movement and political unrest
  • Strikes and lockouts
  • Shortage of power supply
• In order to overcome these problems the government of West Bengal is pursuing the policy of liberalization and inviting domestic and foreign entrepreneurs to invest in the region. Some progress has been made in this direction in recent years.

The Ahmadabad -Vadodra Industrial Region

• This is the third largest industrial region of the country.
• The main cause for the development of this industrial region is the availability of cotton in the hinterland, availability of cheap land, cheap skilled and unskilled labour, port facilities, and nearness of petroleum, thermal, hydel (Ukai project), and nuclear power station (Kakrapara).
• There are over 11 thousand registered factories in this region engaging over 15 lakh workers.
• It is the second largest cotton textile industrial centre in the country. It also specialises in chemical industries, engineering goods, and pharmaceutical products.
• Vadodra is an important centre of woollen textile and petrochemical goods.
• Surat is well known for silk textile and diamond cutting. The other important industrial centres of this region are Anand, Ankleshwar Bhavanagar, Bharuch, Godhra, Jamnagar, Kalol, Kheda, Rajkot, and Surendernagar.
• Scarcity of water and shortage of good quality of cotton are some of the important problems of the region. For the last few years, communal tension has adversely affected the investment in industries in this region.

The Madurai-Coimbatore-Bangalore Industrial Region

• Stretching over the state of Tamil Nadu and the southern parts of Karnataka, it is an important industrial center that made great progress after independence.
• This region is mainly the cotton-producing area of the country. The good climate, disciplined skilled and unskilled labour, regular supply of power (from the Mettur, Papanasam, Pykara, Savitri and Sivasamudram), and the nearness of Chennai, Kochi, Mangalore, and Tuticorin seaports have contributed in the fast development of this industrial region.
• About 60% of the workers are engaged in the textile industry followed by engineering at 18%, and food-processing about 12%.

The Chotanagpur Industrial Region

• This industrial region stretches over Jharkhand, Odisha, Southern Bihar, and western parts of West Bengal.
• Having a large concentration of iron and steel industry, it is often called as the ‘Ruhr of India’. This region is rich in fossil fuel and metallic and non-metallic minerals. Power is available from the Damodar Valley Corporation. There is an enormous supply of cheap labour from the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
• The main Iron and Steel producing centers of the region are Asansol, Bokaro, Burnpur, Durgapur, Kulti, Jamshedpur, and Raurkela. The other important industrial centers of the region are Sindri for fertilizer, Chittranjan for locomotives, Ranchi for HMT, and Ramgarh and Bhurkunda for the glass industry.
• The main problems of the region are shortage of power supply and political unrest like those caused by Naxalites. The labour unrest has deterred many of the investors in this region.

The Agra-Delhi-Kalka-Saharanpur Industrial Region

• The main industrial centres are Agra (textile, tourisms), Ambala (scientific instruments), Chandigarh (electronic and strategic goods), Delhi (textile, chemical, drugs, pharmaceutical, light machine, electronic goods, food processing), Faridabad (engineering), Ghaziabad (synthetic fibre, chemicals, electronics, pharmaceuticals, agricultural equipment, iron & steel, cycle tyre, and tubes), Gurgaon (automobiles), Kalka (HMT), Mathura (petrochemicals), Meerut (sugar and textiles), Modinagar (textile, engineering goods, and paper) Modipuram (textiles), Mohannagar (brewery, alcohol), Moradnagar (ordinance), NOIDA (automobile, electronics, etc.), Panipat (textile, chemical, and food processing), and Saharanpur (paper, wood-work, sugar, textile, and food-processing).
• High price of land, traffic jam, and high rate of crimes are the main problems of this region.

The Minor Industrial Regions of India

Apart from the industrial regions described there are several minor emerging industrial regions in the country. Some of them are as under:

• Kanpur-Lucknow Industrial Region: This Industrial Region is known for cotton, woollen and jute textiles, leather goods, fertilisers, chemical, drugs, pharmaceuticals, electric goods, and light machinery.
• Assam valley industrial region: This region has the industries of petrochemical, jute and silk textiles, tea-processing industry, paper, plywood, match, and food processing industries. Important industrial centres are Bongaigaon, Dlbrygarh, Digboi, Guwahati, Noonmati and Tipsukia.
• Darjeeling-Siliguri Industrial Region: This region is known for the production of the tea processing industry and tourism.
• North Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh Industrial Region: This Industrial Region is known for sugar, cement, glass, jute, fertilisers, locomotive, paper, and food processing are main industries. The main industrial centres are Allahabad, Dalmianagar (Bihar), Gorakhpur, Patna, Sultanpur, and Varanasi.
• Indore-Ujjain Industrial Region: Main industries are cotton textile, chemicals, drugs, electronic and engineering goods, and food processing.
• Amritsar Jalandhar-Ludhiana Industrial Region: This Industrial Region is known for sports goods, cotton and woollen, textiles, hosiery, food-processing, and tourism..
• Nagpur-Wardha Industrial Region: textiles, engineering, chemicals, and food processing are the main industries of this region.
• Godavari-Krishna Delta: Main industries are Iron and Steel, ship-building, fertilizer, rice-milling, cotton textile, sugar, fish processing, engineering, and chemicals. Main industrial centres are Guntur, Machlipatnam, Rajamundry, and Vishakhapatnam.
• Dharwar-Belgaum Industrial Region: cotton textile, chemicals, spices packing, and food processing are the main industries.
• Kerala coast Industrial Region: Main industries of this region are coconut-oil extraction, rice-milling, fish packing, paper, coir-matting, ship-building (Kochi), petroleum refining (Kochi), and chemical and electronic goods.

Industrial Districts

• Kanpur,
• Hyderabad,
• Agra,
• Nagpur,
• Gwalior,
• Bhopal,
• Lucknow,
• Jalpaiguri,
• Cuttack,
• Gorakhpur,
• Aligarh,
• Kota,
• Pumia,
• Jabalpur,
• Bareilly.

Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) of Industrial Regionalisation

What are the main factors that contribute to the development of industrial regions?

The main factors that contribute to the development of industrial regions include the availability of natural resources, such as coal or iron ore, a water supply, skilled labor, favorable geo-economic conditions, good transport infrastructure, and a large population engaged in secondary activities.

 What are the major industrial regions of India?

The major industrial regions of India include the Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region, Kolkata-Hugli Industrial Region, Ahmadabad-Vadodra Industrial Region, Madurai-Coimbatore-Bangalore Industrial Region, Chotanagpur Industrial Region, and the Agra-Delhi-Kalka-Saharanpur Industrial Region.

What are the main industries in the Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region?

The main industries in the Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region are cotton textiles, engineering goods, chemical industries, food processing industries, leather goods, pharmaceutical, and film industries.

What are the main problems faced by industrial regions in India?

Some of the main problems faced by industrial regions in India include inadequate supply of power, obsolete and outdated machinery, high cost of land and high rent of commercial space, labor unrest, increasing regionalism, high rate of crime, and increasing environmental pollution.

What is the significance of industrial districts in India?

Industrial districts in India are important as they are smaller, emerging industrial regions that contribute to the country's overall industrialization and regional development. These districts are characterized by the presence of specialized industries, such as textiles, chemicals, engineering goods, or food processing, and provide employment opportunities for the local population.