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Indian Geography / Industries in India

Textile Industries in India

    Textile industry is the second largest source of employment in India after agriculture. Textile industries in India can be classified into three categories namely, Cotton textile industry, Jute textile industry and Woollen textile industry.

    Cotton Textile Industry in India

    • Cotton is generally called white gold. Cotton industry contributes significantly to the industrial production ( 14% ) and it provides second largest employment to the people after agriculture. India ranks third in the world in production of cotton. India has second biggest installed capacity of spindles in the world, next only to China.

    • The first cotton mill was set up in Mumbai in 1854. Mumbai-Surat-Ahmedabad region was established as an important area for cotton industries because of availability of cotton fields, port locations, good entrepreneurs and humid coastal climate. The industry got spread into the entire country because of railways, hydro power and cotton fields.

    • Important Centres of Cotton Industry -
      • Maharashtra - Mumbai, Jalgaon, Nashik, Solapur
      • Gujarat - Surat, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Ahmedabad. Fine quality cotton is available in Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
      • Tamil Nadu – Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem, Tirupur
      • Karnataka – Mysore, Davanagere, Bellary
      • Madhya Pradesh – Indore, Gwalior
      • Rajasthan – Kota, Jaipur, Bhilwara
      • West Bengal – Murshidabad
      • Uttar Pradesh - Modinagar, Agra, Kanpur

    • Cotton processing involves many processes of which Ginning, Spinning and Weaving are important. In South India, we can find spinning mills and in West India, we can find many weaving mills. India exports Yarn mainly to Japan. Cotton goods from India are mainly exported to USA, Russia, UK and other European countries, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Singapore, etc.

    Jute Textile Industry in India

    • Jute is generally called Golden Fibre. India ranks first in production of raw jute and jute goods and it ranks second as an exporter after Bangladesh. Jute is biodegradable but Plastics are posing threat to the Jute industry. Government has regulated the sugar industry to use 50% of its bags to be made with Jute.

    • Jute industry is mainly located on the banks of river Hooghly. The main reason for concentration of industry here was due to availability of Jute and fresh water, cheap inland water transportation, availability of coal from Raniganj, British entrepreneurship, cheap labour that was available from West Bengal and adjoining states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, etc.

    • The Jute mill that was first established in India was at Rishra, West Bengal in 1855. The other centers in West Bengal are Kolkata, Serampore, Fort Gloster, Budge-Budge, Jagatdal, Titagarh, etc. In Assam, the main centres are Dhubri and Guwahati. In Bihar, the centres are Katihar and Muktapur and in Uttar Pradesh, Kanpur and Gorakhpur. In Andhra Pradesh, the centres are Eluru and Nellimarla.

    • In Andhra Pradesh, Mesta ( a type of Jute ) cultivation is in practice. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, there is a huge market for Jute because of demand from sugar industries.

    Woollen Textile Industry in India

    • The first Woollen textile mill was established at Kanpur in 1876. India ranks seventh in the world in wool production with a share of about 1.8 percent. We are importing Merino wool from South Africa and Australia.

    • In India, most of the woollen textile mills are located in Punjab, which is the largest producer of wool in the country. Dhariwal in Punjab is the largest center in wool production. The other important centres are Amritsar, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Kanpur, Agra, Jaipur, Srinagar, etc.

    • The woollen textiles industry in the country is partly machine based industry and partly a cottage industry. Jammu and Kashmir is the largest producer of cottage based woollen goods.