West Bengal has the largest concentration of jute mills in India. There are 56 jute mills in West Bengal and they account for more than 80 per cent of the jute goods in India. Most of the mills are located within a distance of about 60 km from Kolkata.
There is a narrow belt of jute mills along the banks of the Hugli River. This belt is about 100 km long and 3 km wide. The main centres of jute industry in this belt are Rishra, Titlagarh, Serampur, Bansberia, Agarpara, Birlapur, Saikia, Budge Budge, Shyamnagar, Haora, Shibpur, Ulberia and Naihati.
Other important centres outside West Bengal are in Bihar (Gaya, Katihar, Purnea and Samastipur), Andhra Pradesh (Guntur, Ongole, Vishakhapatnam, Nellimorla, Eluru and Chitvalshah), Uttar Pradesh (Kanpur, Gorakhpurand Shahjanwan), Orissa (Cuttack), Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Tripura. The total production was about 16 lakh tons in 2000-01.
Image Source: jute-india.com
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India is the second largest exporter of jute goods in the world. Due to tough competition with Bangladesh, India’s share in the world export has declined from about 80 per cent in 1960-61 to about 65 per cent in 1980-81. The main buyers of the Indian jute goods are USA, Russia, Germany, UK, Australia, Argentina, Myanmar and Singapore.
Problems of Jute Industry:
The jute industry in India is facing many problems and most of the jute mills hardly operate to their full capacity. Some of the problems are:
i. Shortage of raw jute.
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ii. Competition with substitutes like synthetic materials.
iii. Old and obsolete machinery.
iv. Stiff competition from mills in Bangladesh that produce better quality goods.
v. High prices due to inefficient and uneconomic units.
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vi. Diminishing demand of jute goods in the world market.
vii. High input cost of jute goods in India.