Page 46 - SST Class 08

nearly 100 mills were operating in Bombay. and jute industries offered them easy and high
Later, many more mills were set up, especially in return on their investment.
Ahmedabad and Kanpur. Most of the cotton mills But, the plantation industries, except for jute,
were owned by Indians. Many weavers and could not emerge in India and the products of
spinners, who had lost their source of live hood the plantation remained mostly as raw-materials
due to the decline of the handicraft industries, as the items of export. Therefore, plantation fall
began to work in these mills. more in the agricultural economy than the

industrial economy of India. Real and satisfactory
progress in the factory industries began only from
Suppose, one of your relatives wants to set up a
1880s.
cotton textile mill. What factors should he or she
Other Industries
consider regarding the location of the mill?
Coal mining started in a big way from the mid-
Iron and Steel nineteenth century. The coal mines of Bihar,
The first successful attempt was made in 1875 in Bengal and Odisha supplied coal for use in
setting up an iron and steel works at Barakar by railways, other industries and for smelting iron-
Bengal Iron and Steel Company. This was taken ore to make steel.
over by Bengal Iron Company in 1889. But, the
iron and steel industry in India had a real begin-
ning in the year 1907 when Tata Iron and Steel
Company Limited (TISCO) was opened at
Sakchi which later became Jamshedpur. After
independnce, several iron and steel companies
were established. Most of these are in public
sector.
Presently, India is the fourth largest producer of
steel in the world and the largest producer of
sponge iron. Coal Mine

Jute Industry
The third important plantation, which also gave
birth to factory industry, was jute plantation. It
was the greatest attraction of the British invest-
ment and also became a most significant item of
export to the US, Penang and Singapore. It was
this increasing demand and huge profit which
encouraged the British to set jute industry in
India.
However, all these plantation industries, from the
beginning, were owned, managed and controlled Steel Factory
by the ex-employees of the Company and other Other industries that received a spurt of growth
people connected with the Company. They were during this period were sugar, cement, paper,
interested in huge profits. Indigo, tea and coffee, matches and glass.

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