ECONOMY: INDUSTRY
Although starting from 1880 the British have promoted the birth of industrial plants in the textile sector, the Indian industry itself appears in the country only after the achievement of independence, when a specific industrial policy was defined, the implementation of which was initiated under state supervision. The secondary sector has seen its incidence on GDP grow, passing from 17% in 1951 to 27.7% in 2008, placing India among the most industrialized countries in the world, while maintaining a contained incidence on the share of the active employed population. (from 11.5% in the early 1950s to 25.6% in the early 2000s). The basic industry has made significant progress, especially in the steel, chemical and petrochemical sectors. In addition to the many plants present in the Dāmodar valley (some of which inherited from British domination), other steel complexes have been built in various regions of the country according to government programs aimed at revitalizing the South and more generally at achieving a vast geographical distribution of industries. There are good productions of steel, cast iron and ferroalloys. The less developed metallurgical sector produces aluminum, lead, copper, zinc and other metals destined, like most of the steel products, for the national industry. This includes, in addition to the railway sector of colonial origin, factories of agricultural machinery, motor vehicles, bicycles, motors and electrical materials, materials and radio-electronic equipment; Significant progress has been made in the shipbuilding and assembly of foreign-licensed aircraft sectors. Visit cachedhealth.com for Asia industrial and tertiary activities. High-tech industries, especially information technology, have their centers in the areas of Hyderabad and Bangalore; the region between the two cities has been called “Indian Silicon Valley” due to the presence of science parks and factories installed by foreign companies (IBM, HP, Texas Instruments, Oracle, Microsoft, etc.). Many large companies have moved their data processing centers to this area (SwissAir, British Airways, General Motors, Deutsche Bank); thereby India has become a strong exporter of business services. In particular, the production of software has grown, exported to the United States and the European Union. L’ light industry makes use on a large scale of the myriad of family-run or artisanal businesses. A notable expansion records the chemical industry, which includes important complexes near coal areas (for example in the region between the Dāmodar coal basin and the industrial center of Calcutta) or where there is a consistent availability of electricity (for example in southern Karnataka, centered in Bangalore). The main productions concern sulfuric acid, nitric and hydrochloric acid, nitrogen fertilizers, caustic soda, plastics and synthetic resins, pharmaceutical products, etc. The biotechnology sector is also gaining momentum. The petrochemical industry has numerous refineries, arisen both in the areas of crude extraction (such as Digboi, Assam), and in the large coastal centers (Cochin, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam etc.) which have a refining capacity significantly higher than the production of national crude, so that they also work oil import. The rubber industry is also developed, mainly aimed at the production of tires, the cement and paper industries. However, the most developed and also the oldest manufacturing sector is the textile one, especially the cotton industry which benefits from using the national raw material; yarns and fabrics are produced which are widely exported all over the world thanks to the clearly competitive costs. Prospero is likewise the jute mill, located in West Bengal, while the more modest one is the wool mill, which has its main center in Kanpur. The silk factory, which boasts prestigious traditions (sari, shawls, embroidered fabrics such as the famous ones of Kashmir). Finally, the artificial and synthetic fibers sector is growing considerably. Food industries are widespread everywhere, in which however, except for some plantation products, artisanal companies generally located in the same places of the various crops prevail. Alongside the numerous milling and rice processing complexes there are oil mills, tea and coffee processing plants, fruit and vegetable canning factories, sugar refineries, breweries, etc. Considerable are also the manufacture of tobacco and the leather industry. A spectacular quantitative level has finally reached the film industry which, mainly concentrated in Bombay, produces a very high number of films per year.
ECONOMY: MINERAL RESOURCES
India is a rather rich country from a mining point of view and probably a lot still has to be discovered; For example, coal reserves are proving to be very large (the sector was fully nationalized in 1973 and subjected to a specific government body). Particularly important basins are those in Bihar and West Bengal, given the proximity of rich iron deposits with a high metallic content; this concomitant presence favored the rise of the by now powerful steel industry of the Dāmodar valley, the so-called “Indian Ruhr”. The energy picture includes, in addition to coal, lignite and oil, with main fields in Gujarat, Nagaland and Assam (where natural gas is also extracted) and offshore in the gulf of Cambay; among the marine deposits, those off the coast of Maharashtra and in the Bay of Bengal seem very conspicuous. Among the metal ores there are huge productions of manganese, bauxite and chromite, followed by those of manganese, zinc, magnesite, lead, copper, uranium, gold, silver, diamonds, etc.; the panorama of the major mineral products is completed by natural phosphates, gypsum and salt, extracted both from rock salt deposits and from coastal salt flats and inland lakes. However, the exploitation of mineral resources is still reduced and the raw material prevails over that processed in the relative export quota. The hydroelectric potential is significant, especially in the Himalayan region and in the Deccan, but it has only been partially exploited through the construction of large dams (on the Sutlej, on the Mahanadi, etc.) which are also used for irrigation. Over 70% of electricity production is therefore of thermal origin, obtained to a large extent by exploiting national coal and, in increasing proportion, oil which still does not meet internal needs. India is also interested in strengthening the electronuclear sector, set up with foreign assistance also thanks to the enhancement of local uranium resources. Three power stations are in operation, that of Tarapur near Bombay, that of Ranapratap Sagar near Kota, in Rajasthan, and that of Kalpakam; others are under construction. Very active and avant-garde is the Three power stations are in operation, that of Tarapur near Bombay, that of Ranapratap Sagar near Kota, in Rajasthan, and that of Kalpakam; others are under construction. Very active and avant-garde is the Three power stations are in operation, that of Tarapur near Bombay, that of Ranapratap Sagar near Kota, in Rajasthan, and that of Kalpakam; others are under construction. Very active and avant-garde is the Bhabha Atomic Research Center in Trombay, near Bombay, an important center for nuclear energy research.
