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was named ‘Empress’ mills as it was established 3. The cotton, as the chief raw material, is
on the day on 1st January, 1877, when Queen
Elizabeth was crowned the empress of India. By
this time, there were already a dozen mills in
Mumbai which came to be called the ‘Cottonpolis
of India’ on the lines of Manchester in England.
Again during this period, many industries usually
came up along coasts to facilitate shipments.
Such industries, bases on their location, came to
be called the ‘port industries’. The British though
continued to discourage growth of industries in
India, the two World Wars boosted the develop-
ment of many industries including steel and
cotton in India. During partition, India suffered
some setback, but soon recovered when the
cotton textile industry began to spread its wings
all over India. Today, there are more than 80
towns and cities in India where cotton textile mills
are located. Main centres of location are in the
States of Maharashra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
The industry employs about 36 million people
and makes a contribution of about 14 percent to
industrial production of the country. The total
production of cloth by all sectors (mill, handloom,
Khadi and silk) has reached around 44,000
million square metres bases on 2001 figures. The
exports today account for about 30 percent of
India total export value. However, share of cotton
fibre to total value of all fibres has come down
and stands in the ratio of 43:57 to cotton fibres,
other fibres including synthetics. Among chief
competitors of India in the Interntional market
are China, Japan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
CASE STUDY: COMPARISON OF
DEVELOPMENT OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY
IN AHMEDABAD (INDIA) AND OSAKA
(JAPAN)
Ahmedabad (India)
1. It is located, away from the West Coast, on
the banks of a river (Sabarmati) in Gujarat.
2. First textile were set up in 1859.
Social Science-8 178
grown locally.
4. Its growth is liked to growth of Mumbai as
the cottonpolis of India. Spinning and
weaving were traditionally found here even
before establishment of Industries. Some
raw cotton was earlier also imported.
5. Most of spinning of yarn is done by smaller
mills. It has about 50 small mills.
6. Lot of manual work is done.
7. It is known as ‘Manchester of India’.
8. It undertakes manufacture of a variety of
cloth including dhotis and sarees.
9. It suffers from a multitude of problems like
obsolete machinery, inadequate power
supply and high labour costs.
10. The industry works under several con-
straints and entrepreneurship, climate is
lacking.
11. Raw cotton depends on vagaries of weather
and the mills also suffer on account of raw
materials.
Osaka (Japan)
1. It is a coastal town and ranks among the
busiest ports of the nation.
2. It set up mills after Second World War.
3. Raw cotton is imported.
4. Southern location of the port, moist climate
and cheap women labour are favourable
factors for growth of textile industry.
5. Only large plants are found and most of the
work is automated.
6. Most advanced technology is applied.
7. It is known as ‘Manchester of Japan’.
8. Specialisation in one type of cloth is practised.
9. High profit sectors like steel, electrical
equipment and ship building are replacing
cotton textile industries.