6 Major Industrial Clusters Regions of India

 

6 Major industrial clusters regions of India are: 1. Hooghly Industrial Belt 2. Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region 3. Ahmedabad-Vadodara Region 4. Madurai-Coimbatore-Bengaluru Region 5. The Chhotanagpur Plateau Region 6. Agra-Mathura-Meerut-Saharanpur and Faridabad-Gurgaon-Ambala Belts.

1. Hooghly Industrial Belt:

This belt developed around Kolkata as the nucleus. The mouth of River Hooghly presented ideal conditions for development of a port. The Ganga and Brahmaputra linked the belt with rich hinterland.

These links were later supplemented and strengthened by rail and road links.

The following factors helped in industrialisation of this belt:

(i) Kolkata was the British Indian capital from 1773 to 1911. This ensured continuous British capital investment.

(ii) Tea plantations in close proximity in Assam and Bengal, processing of indigo earlier and jute later coupled with the discovery of coal and iron ore in the Chhotanagpur Plateau region contributed to the industrial development of the Hooghly industrial region.

(iii) Cheap labour was easily available from thickly populated and out-migrating states of Bihar, Orissa and eastern Uttar Pradesh.

By 1921, the Hooghly region accounted for two- thirds of the total factory employment in the country. Presently, this region supports a variety of industries which include iron and steel, heavy engineering, rail equipment, transport equipment, chemicals, oil refining, agro-processing, textiles, paper, fertilisers and diverse consumer goods.

The major problems faced by this region, after independence, include the following.

(i) Eighty percent of the jute hectarage went to Bangladesh, while most of the factories were located on the banks of Hooghly.

(ii) The direct inland link with Assam got broken.

(iii) Silting of Kolkata port is a major problem. The Farakka barrage is expected to help the situation, while the new Haldia port may ease the pressure to some extent.

2. Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region:

In 1774, the British acquired the island of Mumbai as a site to develop a port. In 1853, the 34-km Mumbai- Thane rail ushered in industrialisation. Opening of routes through Bhorghat to Pune and through Thalghat to Nasik extended the region’s influence to the hinterland. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 established closer links with Europe.

The Mumbai region had a favourable climate for cotton textiles because of the following reasons:

(i) Easy availability of raw cotton from the black soil belt of the Narmada and Tapti;

(ii) Coastal humid climate which was ideal for weaving and spinning;

(iii) Easy availability of hydel power from the Western Ghats;

(iv) Location of the port on the west coast which ensured ready access to western markets; and

(v) Easy import of capital goods through the port.

Thus, this region emerged as the ‘cottonopolis’ of India. With cotton textiles, a chemical industry also developed soon. Today, the belt has extended to Kurla, Jogeshwari, Ghatkopar, Villeparle, Andheri, Kalyan, Pimpri, Pune, Bhandup and Thane. The product range of the industry in the Mumbai-Pune belt includes textiles, chemicals, engineering, electrical, drugs, transport equipment, plastic and synthetic goods, leather goods and ship-building.

The major problems faced by this belt after independence include the following:

(i) Eighty per cent of the irrigated, long staple cotton growing areas went to Pakistan.

(ii) Congestion is a serious problem and reclamation of more land from the sea is not going to be economical.

3. Ahmedabad-Vadodara Region:

This region is characterised by an inland location in the cotton growing Gujarat plains.

The following factors helped the industrialisation of this region:

(i) The decline of cotton textile industry of Mumbai due to high transportation costs of cotton from the peninsular region and easy access of Ahmedabad-Vadodara region to raw cotton worked to the advantage of this belt.

(ii) The petrochemical industry around Vadodara and Ankaleshwar developed after oil was discovered in the Gulf of Cambay.

(iii) Location of Kandla port is an obvious advantage.

(iv) The densely populated northern plains in close proximity provided an easy market.

Now the region has diversified into diesel engines, textiles machinery, pharmaceuticals and food processing.

4. Madurai-Coimbatore-Bengaluru Region:

It is a predominantly cotton and sugarcane growing region, and has developed around silk textiles, sugar, chemicals, machine tools and leather goods industries. The region receives hydel power from the Mettur, Sharavathi, Sivasamudram, Papanasam and Pykara projects. Various public sector enterprises located in this belt include the Hindustan Machine Tbols, the Visveshwaraiya Iron and Steel Works, the Bharat Electronics, BHEL, the Indian Telephone Industry and the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The important industrial centres in this belt include Madurai, Sivakasi, Tiruchirappalli, Bengaluru, Madukottai, Mandya, Mettur, Mysore and Coimbatore.

5. The Chhotanagpur Plateau Region:

The factors which favoured industrialisation of this region include the following:

(i) Discovery of coal and iron in the Bihar- Orissa belt and location of these resources in close proximity to each other facilitated easy utilisation.

(ii) Easy availability of power from the Damodar Valley Project and from coal-based thermal power projects helped in industrialisation.

(iii) Availability of cheap labour from Bihar, Orissa and eastern Uttar Pradesh was of great advantage.

(iv) Proximity to port and access to large market in the vicinity also worked to the advantage of this belt.

The important nodal centres in the Chhotanagpur region include Ranchi, Dhanbad, Chaibasa, Sindri, Hazaibagh, Jamshedpur, Daltonganj, Garwa and Japla. The important industries in this region include iron and steel, heavy engineering, machine tools, fertilisers, cement, paper, locomotives and heavy electricals.

6. Agra-Mathura-Meerut-Saharanpur and Faridabad-Gurgaon-Ambala Belts:

Both these belts merge in an agglomeration in the vicinity of Delhi. A number of industrial clusters have assumed importance in this belt after independence, helped by hydel power from Bhakra and thermal power from Harduaganj and Faridabad. The majority of industries in this belt are agro-based industries like sugar and textiles.

The important nodal centres and the industries they support are given below:

Agra: glassworks, iron foundries, leather goods;

Mathura: oil refinery, petrochemicals;

Faridabad: engineering, electronics;

Saharanpur, Yamunanagar: paper mills;

Meerut: sugar.