The cotton textile industry is widely distributed. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu together account for about 60 per cent of the total cotton textile mills in India. Other important states are Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
1. Maharashtra excels all other states in the development of cotton textile industry. Mumbai, with about 60 mills, is the largest cotton textile mill centre in India and is rightly called the ‘Cotton polis of India’.
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The following factors favoured the development of cotton textile industry in and around Mumbai.
i. The humid climate is useful, because the thread does not break so frequently.
ii. The port facilities help in the import of long staple cotton and machinery as well as the export of the finished product.
iii. Hydroelectricity as a cheap source of power is readily available from the nearby areas.
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iv. It is located near the cotton producing belt.
v. Cheap labour is readily available from the nearby thickly populated areas
vi. City is well-connected by an efficient network of roads and railways, which helps in transporting raw cotton and finished cloth.
vii. The capital and financial resources are easily available in the Mumbai city.
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viii. There is a ready market for cotton textiles both in the domestic and the foreign markets.
ix. Mumbai also enjoys the advantage of an early start.
Apart from Mumbai, the other important centres of cotton textile industry are Sholapur, Kolhapur, Satara, Nagpur, Wardha, Aurangabad, Pune and Jalgaon.
2. Gujarat is the second largest producer of cotton textiles in India. Ahmadabad, with about 70 textile mills, is the most important centre. It is also the second largest centre after Mumbai in India and is called the ‘Manchester of India’. The following factors favoured the development of cotton textile industry in and around Ahmadabad.
i. It is very close to the cotton producing belt of India.
ii. The humid climate is well suited to the cotton textile industry.
iii. Land in and around Ahmadabad is much cheaper than in Mumbai.
iv. Cheap hydroelectricity is readily available.
v. Skilled and semi-skilled labour can be easily recruited from the surrounding region.
vi. Ahmadabad is located at the centre of rail and road network and is well-connected with every major town of India.
vii. Textiles from this region being priced low find ready market in every part of India.
viii. Most of the cotton textile mills are smaller in size than in Mumbai, but they produce cloth of finer quality.
Other important centres in Gujarat are Vadodara, Surat, Bharuch, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Kalol, Nadiad, Cambay, Morvi, Porbandar, etc. Surat and Cambay have a large number of powerlooms.
3. Tamil Nadu has the largest number of cotton textile mills in South India. The state is the largest producer of mill-made cotton yarn and the third largest producer of mill-made cloth. Coimbatore is the most important centre and is rightly called the ‘Manchester of South India’.
The main factors responsible for the development of cotton textile industry are the easy availability of raw cotton, rich pool of skilled labour, cheap hydroelectricity from Pykara project and expertise in producing quality textile goods.
Other important centres in Tamil Nadu are Chennai, Madurai, Salem, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Virudhnagar, Udmalpet, Perambur, etc.
4. Uttar Pradesh has about 50 cotton textile mills. Most of the cotton textile mills are in the western part of the state. Kanpur, popularly known as the ‘Manchester of Uttar Pradesh’, is the largest centre.
The state enjoys a large home market, cheap and skilled labour, excellent transport network and easy availability of raw cotton from the nearby areas. Other important centres in Uttar Pradesh are Modinagar, Moradabad, Etawah, Varanasi, Agra, Bareilly, Aligarh, Saharanpur, Rampur, Lucknow, Mirzapur, Meerut, Hathras, Ghaziabad, etc.
5. West Bengal has about 55 cotton textile mills. Kolkata is the most important centre. It is located away from the main cotton producing areas, but enjoys facilities of a port, local labour due to high density of population and a ready market. Other main centres in West Bengal are Haora, Murshidabad, Hugli, Serampur, Saikia, Shyamnagar, Maurigram, etc.
Other main centres of cotton textile industry are:
Andhra Pradesh:
Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Warangal, Guntur, Adoni, Ramagundam, Guntakal, Tirupathi, Udayagiri, etc.
Karnataka:
Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Bellary, Davangere, Gokak, Gulbarga, Chitradurga, Mangalore, Belgaum, etc.
Madhya Pradesh:
Indore, Gwalior, Ujjain, Nagda, Raipur, Dewas, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Barhanpur, Ratlam and Mandsaur.
Rajasthan:
Pali, Beaver, Kishangarh, Ganganagar, Bhilwara, Udaipur, Jaipur, Kota and Ajmer.
Kerala:
Alleppy, Kolam, Thiruvananthapuram, Trichur and Kochi.
Punjab:
Amritsar, Ludhiana and Phagwara.
Haryana:
Bhiwani, Hissar and Panipat.
Bihar:
Gaya, Patna, Bhagalpur.