Jute Textiles

This is the second most important textile industry after cotton textile industry. West Bengal has the largest concentration of jute industry. is state has 56 jute mills and 41,2 61 looms which respectively account for 76 per cent and 80 per cent of all India installation. Over 84 per cent of jute goods production of India comes from West Bengal. Most of the jute mills are concentrated in a narrow belt near Kolkata which is 100 km long and 3 km wide along both the banks of Hugli river. Apart from Kolkata, the other important centres of jute textile industry are Titagarh (9 mills), Jagatdal (8 mills), Budge Budge (8 mills), Haora (8 mills), Bhadreswar (6 mills), Bally, Agarpara, Rishra, Serampara, Shibpur, Shyamnagar, Bansbaria, Kankinara, Uluberia, Naihati, Baidyahati and many others.

Following few factors have been responsible for high concentration of jute mills in Hugli basin:

• The Ganga-Brahmaputra delta grows about 90 per cent of India’s jute and provides raw material to jute mills here.
• Coal is obtained from Raniganj fields which is hardly 200 km away.
• Cheap water transportation is available. The area is also served by a network of roads and railways.
• Abundant water is available for processing, washing and dyeing jute.
• Humid climate is very convenient for spinning and weaving.
• Kolkata is a big port which helps in the import of machinery and spare parts and in the export of finished jute products.
• High density of population in West Bengal and in the neighbouring parts of Jharkhand and Bihar provides abundant cheap labour. Some labour comes from Uttar Pradesh also.
• Big capitalists are living in and around Kolkata which makes easy w of capital in this industry.
• Banking and insurance facilities are also available in and around Kolkata.
• The early arrival of British merchants under the aegis of East India Company in Kolkata helped in setting this industry here. So Kolkata enjoys the advantage of an early start.

In addition to West Bengal, jute mills are also located at Guntur, Vishakhapatnam and Nelimarla, Chillivelsa, Eluru and Ongole in Andhra Pradesh; Kanpur, Shahjanwan and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh; Katihar, Samastipur, Darbhanga and Gaya in Bihar; Raigarh in Chhattisgarh and Cuttak in Odisha. Assam and Tripura also have one jute mill each.

Woollen Textiles

Most of the woollen mills are located in northern part of India because there is no distinct winter season in south India. Consequently there is ready market for woollen garments in north India and raw material in the form of wool is also available from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Rajasthan. Punjab leads all other states in manufacturing woollen goods. Dhariwal is the largest centre. The other centries are Amritsar, Ludhiana and Kharar. Apart from Punjab, the other states have woollen industry located at the following centres.

• Uttar Pradesh: Kanpur (the birth place of modern woollen textile industry), Shahjahanpur, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Agra, Modinagar and Tanakpur.
• Maharashtra: Mumbai.
• Gujarat: Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, Kalol and Vododara.
• Haryana: Panipat, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Bahadurgarh.
• Rajasthan: Bikaner, Alwar, Bhilwara, Sikar, Jaipur, Nagaur, Puskar and Ajmer.
• Karnataka: Begaluru.
• West Bengal: Kolkata and Haore.
• Jammu and Kashmir: Srinagar.
• Himachal Pradesh: Kulu.
• Tamil Nadu: Chennai and Salem.