Introduction to Industry

Ever wondered where your smartphone came from? You purchased it from a shop sure, but the shopkeeper purchased it from his distributor, the distributor purchased it from the manufacturer. And, the manufacturer produced a final product, your smartphone, from the raw materials available to him. Thus, the manufacturer is the origin of your smartphone. An industry is a group of organizations involved in producing/manufacturing or handling the same type of product and service. So, a group of smartphone manufacturers is known as an industry.

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Industry: An Introduction

Industries are part of the secondary activity. Secondary activities or manufacturing converts raw material into products of more value to people. Industry refers to economic activities concerned with the production of goods, extraction of services and provision or services. Hence we can say that Industries are concerned with:

• Production of good (steel energy)
• Extraction of minerals (coal mining)
• Provision for services (tourism)
• There are also Emerging Industries: ‘Sunrise Industries’

Classification of Industries

1. Raw material

• Agro-based industries: These industries use plants and animal-based products as their raw materials. Examples, food processing, vegetable oil, cotton textile, dairy products, and leather industries.
• Mineral based industries: Mineral-based industries are based on mining and use ‘mineral ore‘ as raw material. These industries also provide to other industries. They are used for heavy machinery and building materials.
• Marine-based industries: Marine-based industries use raw materials from sea or ocean. Examples, fish oil.
• Forest-based industries: These industries use raw materials from the forest like wood. The industries connected with forest are paper, pharmaceutical, and furniture.

2. Size

Size of industries are measured by how much money is invested, employee count and goods produced.

• Small-scale industries: Small-scale industries have less capital and technology invested in them. There is often manual labour noticed here. Example, Basket weaving, pottery, and handicrafts.
• Large-scale industries: Largescale industries are the exact opposite of small-scale industries. Here the capital invested is large and advanced technology is in use here. Example, Automobiles and Heavy Machinery.

3. Ownership

• Private sector: Private industries are businesses that are owned and operated by an individual or group of individuals.
• Public sector: Public industries are owned and managed by the government. Example, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)
• Joint sector industries: These industries are jointly operated by the state and individuals. Example, Maruti Udyog.
• Cooperative sector industries: Cooperative industries are operated by the suppliers, producers or workers of raw material. Example, Amul India.

Industrial Systems

Industrial systems are made up of input, processes, and output. The input of raw materials, labour, land, power, and other infrastructure. The process is the plan the manufacturer has of how to turn raw materials into finished products of value. And finally, the output is the end of the product from which the income earned it.

Industrial Clusters

Industrial clusters occur when many industries are located close to each other and share the benefits of their closeness. Major industrial clusters in India are:

• Mumbai-Pune cluster
• Bangalore-Tamil Nadu region
• Hugli region
• Ahmedabad-Baroda region
• Chottanagpur industrial belt
• Vishakhapatnam-Guntur belt
• Gurgaon-Delhi-Meerut region
• Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram industrial cluster

Distribution of Major Industries

As we learned how industries were classified according to raw material, size, and ownership. Here we will learn the distribution of some major industries, which are iron and steel industry and textile industry are the oldest industries that have had their role in Indian industrialization. Information technology is an emerging industry.

Iron and steel industries have their firm hold in countries like Germany, USA, China, Japan, and Russia. While textile industries are flourishing in India, Hong Kong, and South Korea. The new emerging information technology has their concentration in Silicon Valley of California and Banglore of India.

Iron and Steel Industry

Iron and Steel industries are famously known as the feeders of all the other industries. The products of these industries are used as raw materials in other industries. As we learned the industrial system, this industry comprises of various inputs, processes, and outputs. The input includes raw material such as iron ore, labor, capital, and other infrastructure. Iron ore is then converted into steel by various processes like smelting and refining.

Finally, the output is steel. Steel and iron can be called as the basic material needed in every other industry. No doubt, they are the backbone of the modern industry. In a developing country like India, Iron and Steel industry has taken the advantage of the cheap labor, raw material, and the ready market.

Textile Industry

Textile is a fabric that is woven from fibres. It takes raw material like cotton or wool and the process called spinning turns it into yarn that is later used to create the fabric. Fibres can be natural or are man-made. Natural fibres are – cotton, jute, linen, wool, and silk. Man-made fibres are – nylon, rayon, and polyester.

The man has been wearing and using fabric since ancient times. The textile industry is one of the oldest industry in the world. And until the industrial revolution, the textile industry used wheels and looms to weave fibre. During the revolution, power looms were introduced first in Britain.

After that, textile industry expanded in Mumbai because of its warm, moist climate, facility of port for importing machinery and exporting the output and above all the availability of cheap labour. Some of the well known and highly demanded fibres are, Muslins from Dhaka Chintzes from Masulipatnam and Calicos of Calicut, Gold wrought cotton from Surat, Burhanpur, and Vadodara.

Information Technology

Information technology deals with the storage, processing and distribution of information. During the decade, the industry has gained global attention due to a series of political, technological and socioeconomic events. India is witnessing the emergence of information technology hubs in Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.

The Silicon Valley and Bangalore both share many same aspects in the development of Information technology such as pleasant climate, skilled workforce, presence of high quality educational, technological and scientific centers and access to markets.

Solved Questions for You

Q: Which of this is a joint sector industry?

• Only owned by individuals
• Owned by the government
• Co-Owned by the government and individuals
• Owned by producers, workers, and suppliers.

Answer: Owned by the government and individuals.

Q: Name one industry you know about or heard of apart from the ones listed above.

Answer: Chocolate industry, Chocolate industry in India is dominated by two companies. The market leader is Cadbury with lion’s share 70%.