Cotton Textile Industry

The industrial development in India began with the establishment of first successful modern cotton textile mill at Mumbai in 1854. Since then the industry has witnessed a phenomenal growth. The numbers of mills increased from 378 in 1952 to 1782 by March 1998.

Cotton textiles has an important place in the economy of the country. It provides employment opportunities to a large number of people. About one-fifth of the total industrial labour is absorbed by this industry.

A. Production

Cotton textile industry comprises of three sectors: mill sector, handloom and powerloom. The share of large mill, handloom and powerloom sector in the total production of cotton cloth in 1998-99 was 5.4 per cent, 20.6 per cent and 74 per cent respectively.

The cloth production of cotton textile increased from 421 crore square metres in 1950-51 to 1794.9 crore square metres in 1998-99. The Cotton and synthetic fibre textile industry has made tremendous progress. Per capita availability of cloth from both the types was 15 metres only in 1960-61. In the year 1995-96, it has risen to 28 metres.

This has enabled us to export cotton yarn, cotton fabrics and cotton and synthetic garments on a large scale. In 1995-96 we earned 2.6 billion dollars by their exports.

B. Distribution

Cotton textile industry is one of the most widely distributed industries in our country. These mills are located in more than 88 centres in different parts of the country. But majority of cotton textile mills are still located in the cotton growing areas of the great plains and peninsular India.

Maharashtra is the leading producer of cotton textile in the country. Mumbai is the major centre of textile mills. About a half of the cotton textile mills are located in Mumbai alone. It is, therefore, rightly called as ‘Cottonpolis’ of India. Sholapur, Kohlapur, Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad and Jalgaon are other important centres in Maharashtra.

Gujarat, which ranks second in the production of cotton textiles, Ahmedabad is the major centre of the state. Surat, Bharauch, Vadodara, Bhavnagar and Rajkot are other centres in the state.

Tamil Nadu has emerged as an important producer of cotton textiles in southern states. Coimbatore is an important centre in the state. Tirunelveli, Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Salem and Thanjavour are other important centers here.

In Karnataka, cotton textile industry is concentrated at Bangalore, Mysore, Belgaum and Gulberga. Kanpur, Etawah, Modinagar, Varanasi, and Hathras are important centres in Uttar Pradesh. In Madhya Pradesh this industry is concentrated at Indore and Gwalior. Howrah, Serampur and Murshidabad are important Cotton textile centres in West Bengal.

Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh are the other states producing cotton textiles.

The following are the factors for the localization of textile industry in Ahmedabad - Mumbai - Pune region.

1. Availability of raw material: A large amount of cotton is grown in this belt.

2. Availability of capital: Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Pure are the places where capital for investment is easily available.

3. Means of transport: This region is well connected with the rest of India by roads and railways. It, therefore, facilities transportation of finished products.

4. Accessibility to the market: Maharashtra and Gujarat has a large market to sell textile products here. Developed means of transportation help in movement of textile products to other market centres as well as to foreign market. Now a days the market has become a dominant factor in determining the location of cotton textile industry.

5. Nearness to ports: Mumbai port facilitates the import of machinery and good quality of cotton from abroad and export of the finished products.

6. Cheap labour: Cheap and skilled labour is easily available from the surrounding areas.

7. Availability of power: Cheap and sufficient power is easily available here.