According to a popular classification there are 8 major industrial regions of India

1. Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region

2. Hugli Industrial Region.

3. Bangalore-Tamil Nadu Industrial Region

4. Gujarat Industrial Region

5. Chotanagpur Industrial Region

6. Vishakhapatnam-Guntur Industrial Region

7. Gurgaon-Delhi-Meerut Industrial Region

8. Kolfam-Thiruvananthapuram Industrial Region.

1. Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region:

This region extends from Thane to Pune and in adjoining districts of Nashik and Solapur. Iwn at a rapid pace in Kolaba, Ahmednagar, Satara, Sangli and Jalgaon districts also. it started in British India.

 In 1774 the island-site was obtained for construction of Mumbai port. The opening of the first railway track of 34 kms between Mumbai and Thane in 1853, opening of the Bhor and Thai Ghats respectively to Pune and Nashik and that of Suez Canal in 1869 all contributed to the development of Mumbai.

The growth of this industrial region is coincides with the growth of cotton textile industry in India. Coal was situated at a distant location  and  hydroelectric was developed in Western Ghats. Cotton was cultivated in the black cotton soil area of the Narmada and Tapi basins.

2.  Hugli Industrial Region:

Strategically situated in the province of West Bengal, this region is a narrow belt running along the river Hugli for a distance of about 100 km from Bansbaria and Naihati in the north to Birlanagar in the south. Industries have also developed in Midnapur district in the west.  Hugli proved to be the best site for the development of an inland river port as nucleus for the development of Hugli industrial region.

Kolkata,the old trading hub of late 17th century has developed into  a big  industrial centre of today.  Kolkata-Haora jointly forms the nucleus of this region. It is well- connected by the Ganga and its tributaries with the rich hinterland of Ganga-Brahmaputra plains. Besides navigable rivers, roads and the railways provided subsequent links to the great benefit of Kolkata port.

The discovery of coal and iron ore in Chotanagpur plateau, tea plantations in Assam and northern parts of West Bengal and the processing of deltaic Bengal’s jute contributed to the industrial development in this region. As further advantage ,cheap labour could be found easily from the thickly populated states of Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern part of U.P. Kolkata, as capital city of the British India (1773-1912) attracted large scale British investment of capital.

Establishment of first jute mill at Rishra in 1855 ushered in the era of modem industrial clustering in this region. A chain of jute mills and other factories could be established on either side of Hugli River with the help of Damodar valley coal. The port site was best-suited for export of raw materials to England and import of finished goods .

Location of petroleum refinery at Haldia has facilitated the development of a variety of industries. The major centres of this industrial region are Kolkata, Haora, Haldia, Serampur, Rishra, Shibpur, Naihati, Kakinara, Shamnagar, Titagarh, Sodepur, Budge Budge, Birlanagar, Bansbaria, Belgurriah, Triveni, Hugli, Belur, etc.

3. Bangalore-Tamil Nadu Industrial Region:

In  two states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, this region experienced the fastest industrial growth in the post-independence era. Till 1960, industries were confined to Bangalore district of Karnataka and Salem and Madurai districts of Tamil Nadu. But now they have spread over all the districts of Tamil Nadu except Viluppuram.

This region is a cotton-growing one and is dominated by the cotton-textile industry. In fact cotton textile industry was the first to take roots in this region. But it has large number of silk-manufacturing units, sugar mills, leather industry, chemicals, rail wagons, diesel engines, radio, light engineering goods, rubber goods, medicines, aluminium, cement, glass, paper, cigarette, match box and machine tools, etc.

This region is away from the main coal-producing areas of the country but cheap hydroelectric power is available from Mettur, Sivasamudram, Papanasam, Pykara and Sharavati dams. Cheap skilled labour and proximity to vast local market as well as good climate have also favoured the concentration of industries in this region.

Coimbatore has grown rapidly mainly owing to its industrial growth based on Pykara power, local cotton, coffee mills, tanneries, oil presses and cement works. Coimbatore is known as Manchester of Tamilnadu because of its large-scale cotton textile industry. The establishment of public sector units at Banglore like Hindustan Aeronautics, Hindustan Machine Tools, Indian Telephone Industry and Bharat Electronics etc. has further sped up the growth of industries in the region.

Madurai is known for its cotton textiles. Visvesvarayya Iron and Steel Works is located at Bhadravati. The other important centres of this region are Sivakasi, Tiruchirapalli, Madukottai, Mettur, Mysore and Mandya. Petroleum refinery at Chennai and Narimanam and iron and steel plant at Salem are recent developments.

4. Gujarat Industrial Region:

 This region extends upto Valsad and Surat in the south and Jamnagar in the west. The region corresponds to the cotton growing tracts of the Gujarat plains and the development of this region is associated with the location of textile industry since 1860s.

Ahmedabad is near the sources of raw material as well as the marketing centres of the Ganga and Satlui plains. Availability of cheap land, cheap skilled labour and other advantages helped the cotton textile industry to develop.

The discovery and production of oil at a number of places in the Gulf of Khambhat area led to the establishment of petrochemical industries around Ankleshwar, Vadodara and Jamnagar. Petroleum refineries at Koyali and Jamnagar provide necessary raw materials for the proper growth of petrochemical industries.

The Kandla port, developed after independence, provides the basic infrastructure for imports and exports and helps in rapid growth of industries in this region. The region can now boast of diversified industries.

Besides textiles (cotton, silk and synthetic fibres) and petrochemical industries, other industries are heavy and basic chemicals, dyes, pesticides, engineering, diesel engines, textile machinery, pharmaceuticads, dairy products and food processing. The main industrial centres of this region are Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bharuch, Koyali, Anand, Khera, Surendranagar, Surat, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Valsad.

5. Chotanagpur Industrial Region:

This region is located on the Chotanagpur plateau and extends over Jharkhand, Northern Orissa and Western part of West Bengal. The growth of the region is linked with the discovery of coal in Damodar Valley and iron ore in the Jharkhand-Orissa mineral belt. As both are found in close proximity, the region is known as the ‘Ruhr of India’.

Besides raw materials, power is available from the dam sites in the Damodar Valley and the thermal power stations based on the local coal. This region is surrounded by highly populated states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal which provide cheap labour.

The Kolkata region provides a large market for the goods produced in the Chotanagpur region. It also provides the port facility to the region. It has the advantages for developing ferrous metal industries. The Tata Iron and Steel Company at Jamshedpur, Indian Iron Steel Co., at Bumpur-Kulti, Hindustan Steel Limited at Durgapur, Rourkela and Bokaro are the important steel plants located in this region.

Heavy engineering, machine tools, fertilizers, cement, paper, locomotives and heavy electricals are some of the other important industries in this region. Important nodal centres of this region are Ranchi, Dhanbad, Chaibasa, Sindri, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Daltonganj, Garwa and Japla.

6. Vishakhapatnam-Guntur Industrial Region:

The region extends from Vishakhapatnam district in the north-eastern part of Andhra Pradesh to Kurnool and Prakasham districts in the south-east and covers most of the coastal Andhra Pradesh. The industrial development of this region mainly depends upon Vishakhapatnam and Machilipatnam ports.

Developed agriculture and rich mineral resources in the hinterlands of these ports provide solid base to the industrial growth in this region. Coal fields of the Godavari basin are good source of energy. Hindustan Shipyard Ltd. set up at Vishakhapatnam, set up in 1941 is the main focus.

Petroleum refinery at Vishakhapatnam facilitated the growth of several petrochemical industries. Vishakhapatnam has the most modern iron and steel plant which have the distinction of being the only plant in India having coastal location. It uses high quality iron ore from Bailadila in Chhattisgarh.

One lead-zinc smelter is functioning in Guntur district. The other industries of this region include sugar, textiles, paper, fertilizers, cement, aluminium and light engineering. The important industrial centres of this region are Vishakhapatnam, Vijaywada, Vijaynagar, Rajahmundry, Kurnool, Elum and Guntur. Recent discovery of natural gas in Krishna- Godavari basin is likely to provide much needed energy and help in accelerated growth of this industrial region.

7. Gurgaon-Delhi-Meerut Industrial Region:

It is one of the fastest growing regions of India. It consists of two industrial belts adjoining Delhi. One belt extends over Agra-Mathura-Meerut and Saharanpur in U.P. and the other between Faridabad-Gurgaon- Ambala in Haryana.

The region is located far away from the mineral and power resources, and therefore, the industries are light and market oriented. The region gets power fromhydro-electricity from Bhakra-Nangal complex and thermal power from Harduaganj, Faridabad and Panipat.

Sugar, agricultural implements, vanaspati, textile, glass, chemicals, engineering, paper, electronics and cycle are some of the important industries of this region. Software industry is a recent addition, Agra and its environs have glass industry. Mathura has an oil refinery with its petro-chemical complex. One oil refinery has been set up at Panipat also.

 Gurgaon has Maruti car factory as well as one unit of the IDPL. Faridabad has a number of engineering and electronic industries. Ghaziabad is a large-centre of agro­-industries. Saharanpur and Yamunanagar have paper mills. Modinagar, Sonipat, Panipat and Ballabhgarh are other important industrial nodes of this region.

8. Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram Industrial Region:

This is a small industrial region and spreads over Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alwaye, Emakulam and Allapuzha districts of south Kerala. The region is located far away from the mineral belt .Due to this distance the industrial scene here is dominated by agricultural products processing and market oriented light industries.

Plantation agriculture and hydroelectricity provide the industrial base to this region. The main industries are textiles, sugar, rubber, match box, glass, chemical fertilizers, food and fish processing, paper, coconut coir products, aluminium and cement. Oil refinery set up in 1966 at Kochi provides solid base to petrochemical industries. Important industrial centres are Kollam, Thiruvananthapuram, Alluva, Kochi, Alappuzha and Punalur.

Minor Industrial Regions:

1. Ambala-Amritsar in Haryana-Punjab.

2. Saharanpur-Muzaffamagar-Bijnaur in Uttar Pradesh.

3. Indore-Dewas-Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

4. Jaipur-Ajmer in Rajasthan.

5. Kolhapur-South Kannada in Maharashtra-Karnataka.

6. Northern Malabar in Kerala.

7. Middle Malabar in Kerala.

8. Adilabad-Nizamabad in Andhra Pradesh.

9. Allahabad–Varanasi-Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.

10. Bhojpur-Munger in Bihar.

11. Durg-Raipur in Chhattisgarh.

12. Bilaspur-Korba in Chhattisgarh.

13. Brahmaputra Valley in Assam.

Industrial Districts:

1. Kanpur, 2 Hyderabad, 3. Agra, 4. Nagpur, 5 Gwalior, 6. Bhopal, 7. Lucknow, 8. Jalpaiguri, 9. Cuttack, 10. Gorakhpur, 11. Aligarh, 12. Kota, 13. Pumia, 14. Jabalpur, 15. Bareilly.

Source:Articles Library