The Industry

industry
The terms industry and sector are often used interchangeably to describe a group of companies that operate in the same segment of the economy or share a similar business type. Although the terms are commonly used interchangeably, they do, in fact, have slightly different meanings. This difference pertains to their scope; a sector refers to a large segment of the economy, while the term industry describes a much more specific group of companies or businesses. A sector is one of a few general segments in the economy within which a large group of companies can be categorized. An economy can be broken down into about a dozen sectors, which can describe nearly all of the business activity in that economy. For example, the basic materials sector is the segment of the economy in which companies deal in the business of exploration, processing and selling the basic materials such as gold, silver or aluminum which are used by other sectors of the economy. An industry, on the other hand, describes a much more specific grouping of companies with highly similar business activities. Essentially, industries are created by further breaking down sectors into more defined groupings. Each of the dozen or so sectors will have a varying number of industries, but it can be in the hundreds. For example, the financial sector can be broken down into industries such as asset management, life insurance and Northwest regional banks. The Northwest regional bank industry, which is part of the financial sector, will only contain companies that operate banks in the Northwestern states. factors influence location of industry
1. Raw materials: Industries that use large quantities of bulky materials tend to be located near to the source of these materials (see notes on the iron and steel industry, above). The influence of location in raw materials has declined in recent times due to the improvements in transport and efficiencies in their use.
2. Energy: Coalfields were the original energy source that attracted industry. In many cases this has been replaced by hydro-electric power (H.E.P.) and oil, sources that can be distributed more easily. However, some energy-intensive industries such as smelting need to be near cheap and abundant power supplies, e.g., some of the industries using H.E.P. in Norway.
3. Labour force: Early industrial development led to a drift from the land to the cities and this helped build up a large and eventually skilled labour force in the cities of, for example, England. In many cases nowadays, mechanisation has reduced the requirements of a larger skilled workforce. Labour costs are also of great importance and many companies have begun to move production to the cheaper labour markets or Eastern Europe.
4. Transport: All industries require a good transport system to permit the importing of raw materials and the exporting of finished products. Modern developments in transport have made it more efficient and more cost effective. Industrial location has thus dispersed from its traditional locations. This has been important in peripheral areas, e.g., Southern Italy (see notes on Problem Regions in the Regional Geography section.)
5. Access to markets: The EU contains a large market that has high purchasing power. The well-established urban structure enables manufacturers to reach their markets easily. The Ranstad, Paris, London (see Core and Periphery in the Regional Geography section hyperlink are important examples of these large concentrated, wealthy markets.
6. Political influence: The laissez-faire (non-interference) attitude of governments in the past has been replaced by an approach whereby government grants, retraining schemes, etc., are a major influence on the location of industry.
Regional planning on a large scale, such as the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno in Southern Italy (see Problem Regions in the Regional Geography section) has been important in bringing industry to many areas within Europe.
EU Structural Funds and regional policy in general has been very important also in the overall spread of industrial employment (see European Union and Policies in the Regional Geography section.)
India Textile Industry

India Textile Industry is one of the leading textile industries in the world. Though was predominantly unorganized industry even a few years back, but the scenario started changing after the economic liberalization of Indian economy in 1991. The opening up of economy gave the much-needed thrust to the Indian textile industry, which has now successfully become one of the largest in the world. India textile industry largely depends upon the textile manufacturing and export. It also plays a major role in the economy of the country. India earns about 27% of its total foreign exchange through textile exports. Further, the textile industry of India also contributes nearly 14% of the total industrial production of the country. It also contributes around 3% to the GDP of the country. India textile industry is also the largest in the country in terms of employment generation. It not only generates jobs in its own industry, but also opens up scopes for the other ancillary sectors. India textile industry currently generates employment to more than 35 million people. It is also estimated that, the industry will generate 12 million new jobs by the year 2010.
Various Categories
Indian textile industry can be divided into several segments, some of which can be listed as below:
· Cotton Textiles
· Silk Textiles
· Woolen Textiles
· Readymade Garments
· Hand-crafted Textiles
· Jute and Coir
The Industry
India textile industry is one of the leading in the world. Currently it is estimated to be around US$ 52 billion and is also projected to be around US$ 115 billion by the year 2012. The current domestic market of textile in India is expected to be increased to US$ 60 billion by 2012 from the current US$ 34.6 billion. The textile export of the country was around US$ 19.14 billion in 2006-07, which saw a stiff rise to reach US$ 22.13 in 2007-08. The share of exports is also expected to increase from 4% to 7% within 2012. Following are area, production and productivity of cotton in India during the last six decades: .extratable, .extratable td { border:1px dotted #ccc; font-size:12px; color:#050F96; }