Industrial regions of Maharashtra

In 1854, Cowasji Nanabhoy Davar opened a cotton spinning mill in Bombay. Within a few decades, the city's mill district — Girangaon, the "village of mills" — employed hundreds of thousands of workers and made Bombay the industrial capital of India. The mills are mostly gone now, replaced by towers and malls. But the story of how Maharashtra industrialised, and how its industry moved and changed, is essential for MPSC.

A short history

The Great Bombay Textile Strike

Led by trade unionist Datta Samant, the strike began in January 1982 and involved a very large number of mill workers. It lasted over a year and ended without the workers' demands being met. Many mills never reopened, and the land was later redeveloped. The strike is often discussed as a turning point in Mumbai's shift from a manufacturing city to a services and finance city.

MIDC: the engine of dispersal

The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) was set up in 1962 under the Maharashtra Industrial Development Act, 1961. Its role:

• acquiring land and developing industrial areas with roads, water and power;
• allotting plots to industries;
• spreading industry beyond Mumbai to district and taluka towns.

MIDC areas today exist across the state, although the most successful are in the western belt.

Major industrial regions

1. The Mumbai–Thane–Raigad region

• Finance and services: Mumbai is India's financial capital (see our guide on Mumbai's economy).
• Petrochemicals and refineries: Trombay, Mahul; Nagothane and Patalganga in Raigad.
• Engineering, chemicals, pharmaceuticals: Thane–Belapur belt, Taloja, Navi Mumbai.
• Ports and logistics: JNPA (Jawaharlal Nehru Port) at Nhava Sheva.
• Diamonds: the Bharat Diamond Bourse at Bandra–Kurla Complex.
• Film and entertainment: Mumbai's film industry, from Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja Harishchandra (1913) to the present; Film City at Goregaon.
• Powerlooms: Bhiwandi (Thane district) is one of India's largest powerloom centres.

2. The Pune region

• Automobiles: Pimpri–Chinchwad, Chakan, Talegaon and Ranjangaon — home to major Indian and foreign vehicle makers; Pune is often called the "Detroit of India".
• Engineering and auto components.
• IT and services: Hinjewadi (Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park), Kharadi, Magarpatta.
• Education and research: a large student population supports industry.

3. Nashik

• Engineering and automobiles — including vehicle manufacturing at Nashik.
• HAL Ozar — aircraft manufacturing and overhaul by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
• Currency and security printing — the Currency Note Press and India Security Press at Nashik Road.
• Wine — Nashik is the centre of India's wine industry.

Mumbai, Pune and Nashik are often described as Maharashtra's golden triangle of industry.

4. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad)

• Automobiles and components: the Waluj, Chikalthana and Shendra industrial areas.
• AURIC (Aurangabad Industrial City) at Shendra–Bidkin — a planned smart industrial city developed under the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).
• Pharmaceuticals and breweries.

5. Nagpur and Vidarbha

• MIHAN (Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur) — a planned logistics hub with an SEZ.
• Butibori — one of the largest industrial areas in the state.
• Mineral-based industries: power, cement (Chandrapur), paper (Ballarpur), ferro-alloys.
• Samruddhi Mahamarg — the Mumbai–Nagpur expressway, intended to open up Vidarbha and Marathwada for industry.

Textile centres beyond Mumbai

Agro-based industry

• Sugar — cooperative and private sugar factories, concentrated in western Maharashtra and Marathwada (see our guide on the sugar economy).
• Dairy — cooperative dairies (e.g., in Kolhapur, Pune, Ahilyanagar).
• Food processing — fruits, onions, grapes, cashew processing in the Konkan.

Regional imbalance in industry

Industrial investment is heavily concentrated in the Mumbai–Pune–Nashik–Thane–Raigad belt. Marathwada and Vidarbha have a much smaller share of industrial output and employment, despite having land, water in some areas and — in Vidarbha — minerals and power.

Reasons often given:

• infrastructure and connectivity gaps;
• distance from ports and markets;
• skilled labour concentrated in the west;
• agglomeration effects — industry attracts industry;
• water scarcity in Marathwada.

Policies to address this include incentives under the state's industrial policy for less developed areas, mega projects, the DMIC node at Shendra–Bidkin, MIHAN and the Samruddhi expressway. See our guides on regional imbalance and on industrial policy.

Practice

Prelims-style:

1. When was MIDC established, and under which Act?
2. Which town is called the "Manchester of Maharashtra"?
3. Where is the Currency Note Press located?
4. What is AURIC, and under which corridor was it developed?
5. Who led the Great Bombay Textile Strike?

Mains-style:

• "Industrialisation in Maharashtra has deepened regional disparities." Examine.
• Discuss the causes and consequences of the decline of Mumbai's textile mills.