Agro-based Industries
- Industries that are based on agricultural raw materials like cotton , jute , silk , woollen textiles , sugar and edible oil , etc.
Textile Industry
- The textile industry contributes significantly to industrial production , employment generation and foreign exchange earnings .
- It is self-reliant and complete in the value chain i.e., from raw material to the highest value-added products.
- The first successful textile mill was established in Mumbai in 1854.
Cotton Industry
- In ancient India, cotton textiles were produced with hand spinning and handloom weaving techniques .
- After the 18th century , power looms came into use.
- Our traditional industries suffered a setback during the colonial period because they could not compete with the mill-made cloth from England .
- In the early years, the cotton textile industry was concentrated in Maharashtra and Gujarat because of the availability of raw cotton , market , transport including accessible port facilities , labour , moist climate , etc. This industry has close links with agriculture and provides a living to
- farmers
- cotton boll pluckers and
- workers engaged in
- ginning
- Spinning
- Weaving
- Dyeing
- Designing
- packaging
- Tailoring
- sewing
- The industry by creating demands supports many other industries , such as chemicals and dyes , packaging materials and engineering works.
- While spinning continues to be in Maharashtra , Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, weaving is highly decentralised to provide scope for incorporating traditional skills and designs of weaving in cotton, silk, zari, embroidery , etc.
- India has world-class production in spinning , but weaving supplies low-quality fabric as it cannot use much of the high-quality yarn produced in the country. Weaving is done by handloom, power loom and in mills.
- The handspun khadi provides large-scale employment to weavers in their homes as a cottage industry .
Jute Textiles
- India is the largest producer of raw jute and jute goods and stands in second place as an exporter after Bangladesh . Most of the mills are located in West Bengal , mainly along the banks of the Hugli river .
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Factors responsible for their location in the Hugli basin are:
- the proximity of the jute-producing areas
-
inexpensive water transport
- supported by a good network of railways , roadways and waterways to facilitate the movement of raw materials to the mills
- abundant water for processing raw jute , cheap labour from West Bengal and adjoining states of Bihar , Odisha and Uttar Pradesh .
- Kolkata as a large urban centre provides banking , insurance and port facilities for the export of jute goods .
Sugar Industry
- The raw material used in this industry is bulky , and in haulage its sucrose content reduces.
- India stands second as a world producer of sugar but occupies first place in the production of gur and khandsari .
- Sixty per cent of the sugar mills are mainly located in Uttar Pradesh , and Bihar rests in Punjab , Maharashtra , Karnataka , Tamil Nadu , Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
- This industry is seasonal so it is ideally suited to the cooperative sector.
- In recent years, mills are shifting in the southern and western parts , especially in Maharashtra because of the higher sucrose content in cane and a cooler climate . Moreover, the cooperatives are more successful in these states.
