In India

• The new Industrial Policy was announced in 1991.
• The major objectives of this policy were to build on the gains already made, correct the distortions or weaknesses that have crept in, maintain a sustained growth in productivity and gainful employment and attain international competitiveness.

Within this policy, measures initiated are-

• • Abolition of industrial licensing, (2) free entry to foreign technology, (3) foreign investment policy, (4) access to capital market, (5) open trade, (6) abolition of phased manufacturing programme, and (7) liberalised industrial location programme.
• The policy has three main dimensions: liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation.

• The industrial licensing system has been abolished for all except six industries related to security, strategic or environmental concerns.
• At the same time, the number of industries reserved for public sector since 1956 have been reduced from 17 to 4.
• The threshold limits of assets have been scrapped and no industry requires prior approval for investing in the delicensed sector. They only need to submit a memorandum in the prescribed format.
• In the new industrial policy, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been seen as a supplement to the domestic investment for achieving a higher level of economic development.
• FDI benefits the domestic industry as well as the consumers by providing technological upgradation, access to global managerial skills and practices, optimum use of natural and human resources, etc.
• The government has also announced changes in the industrial location policies.
• Globalisation means integrating the economy of the country with the world economy.

In Indian context, this implies-

• opening of the economy to foreign direct investment by providing facilities to foreign companies to invest in different fields of economies activity in India;
• removing restrictions and obstacles to the entry of multi- national companies in India;
• allowing Indian companies to enter into foreign collaboration in India and also encouraging them to set up joint ventures abroad;
• carrying out massive import liberalisation programmes by switching over from quantitative restrictions to tariffs in the first place, and then bringing down the level of import duties considerably; and
• instead of a set of export incentives, opting for exchange rate adjustments for promoting export

Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region

• Extends from Mumbai-Thane to Pune and in adjoining districts of Nashik and Solapur.
• Besides, industrial development has been rapid in Kolaba, Ahmednagar, Satara, Sangli and Jalgaon districts.
• Development of this region started with the location of cotton textile industry in Mumbai.
• Mumbai, with cotton hinterland and moist climate favoured the location of cotton textile industry.
• Opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 provided impetus to the growth of Mumbai port.
• Hydro-electricity was developed in the Western Ghat region to meet the requirements of this industry.

Hugli Industrial Region

• Historically, geographical, economic and political factors have contributed much to its development.
• Development of tea plantations in Assam and northern hills of West Bengal, the processing of indigo earlier and jute later coupled with the opening of coalfields of the Damodar Valley and iron ore deposits of the Chotanagpur plateau, contributed to the industrial development of the region.
• Cheap labour available from thickly populated part of Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Orissa also contributed to its development.
• Kolkata, being the capital city of British India (1773-1911), attracted the British capital.
• The establishment of first jute mill at Rishra in 1855 ushered in the era of modern industrial clustering in this region.
• Location of petroleum refinery at Haldia has facilitated the development of a variety of industries.
• However, industrial growth of this region has slowed down in comparison to other regions. Decline of the jute industry is one of the reasons

Bangalore-Chennai Industrial Region

• Since, this region is away from the coalfields; its development is dependent on the Pykara hydroelectric plant, which was built in 1932.
• Cotton textile industry was the first to take roots due to the presence of cotton growing areas.
• Aircraft (HAL), machine tools, telephone (HTL) and Bharat Electronics are industrial landmarks of this region.
• Important industries are textiles, rail wagons, diesel engines, radio, light engineering goods, rubber goods, medicines, aluminium, sugar, cement, glass, paper, chemicals, film, cigarette, match box, leather goods, etc.
• Petroleum refinery at Chennai, iron and steel plant at Salem and fertiliser plants are recent developments.

Gujarat Industrial Region

• Development of this region is also associated with the location of the cotton textile industry since 1860s.
• This region became an important textile region with the decline of the cotton textile industry at Mumbai.
• Located in cotton growing area, this region has double advantage of the proximity of raw materials as well as of market.
• The discovery of oil fields led to the establishment of petrochemical industries around Ankleshwar, Vadodara and Jamnagar.
• The port at Kandla helped in the rapid growth of this region. Petroleum refinery at Koyali provided raw materials to a host of petrochemical industries

Chotanagpur Region

• Proximity of coal, iron ore and other minerals facilitated the location of heavy industries in this region.
• Six large integrated iron and steel plants at Jamshedpur, Burnpur- Kulti, Durgapur, Bokaro and Rourkela are located within this region.
• To meet the power requirement, thermal and hydroelectric plants have been constructed in the Damodar Valley.
• Densely populated surrounding regions provide cheap labour and Hugli region provides vast market for its industries.
• Heavy engineering, machine tools, fertilisers, cement, paper, locomotives and heavy electrical are some of the important industries in this region.
• Important centres are Ranchi, Dhanbad, Chaibasa, Sindri, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Rourkela, Durgapur, Asansol and Dalmianagar.

Vishakhapatnam-Guntur Region

• Industrial development of this region hinges upon Vishakhapatnam and Machilipatnam ports and developed agriculture and rich reserves of minerals in their hinterlands.
• Coalfields of the Godavari basin provide energy.
• Petroleum refinery based on imported petroleum facilitated the growth of several petrochemical industries.
• One lead-zinc smelter is functioning in Guntur district.

Gurgaon-Delhi-Meerut Region

• Electronics, light engineering and electrical goods are major industries of this region.
• Besides, there are cotton, woollen and synthetic fabrics, hosiery, sugar, cement, machine tools, tractor, cycle, agricultural implements, chemical and vanaspati industries which have developed on large scale.
• Software industry
• To the south lies the Agra-Mathura industrial area which specialises in glass and leather goods.
• Mathura with an oil refinery is a petrochemical complex. Among industrial centres, mention be made of Gurgaon, Delhi, Shahdara, Faridabad, Meerut, Modinagar, Ghaziabad, Ambala, Agra and Mathura.

Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram Region

• Plantation agriculture and hydropower provide industrial base to this region.
• Located far away from the mineral belt of the country, agricultural products processing and market oriented light industries predominate the region.
• Among them, cotton textile, sugar, rubber, matchbox, glass, chemical fertiliser and fish-based industries
• Food processing, paper, coconut coir products, aluminium and cement industries
• Location of petroleum refinery at Kochchi