Economic Sectors and Infrastructure

Industrial inertia is the factor irrelevant to the location of industries. Industrial inertia (geographical) describes a stage at which an industry prefers to run in its former location although the main alluring factors are gone. For example, the raw material source is depleted or an energy crisis has emerged.

Capitals are the Commercials or Non-Geographical Factors which consists of Modem industries which are capital-intensive and require huge investments. Capitalists are available in urban centers. Big cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai are big industrial centers, because the big capitalists live in these cities.

Industrial locations are complex in nature. These are influenced by the availability of many factors. Some of them are: raw material, land, water, labor, capital, power, transport, and market. For ease of convenience, we can classify the location factors into two: geographical factors and non-geographical factors.

Factors Influencing the Location of Industries: Geographical and Non-Geographical Factors. Many important geographical factors involved in the location of individual industries are of relative significance, e.g., availability of raw materials, power resources, climatic conditions, water, site locations, labour, markets and the transport facilities.

Both statements are generally accepted in the context of industrial geography and economics: large-scale industries require significant capital flow, and banking infrastructure is a key factor in industrial location decisions.

Industries tend to develop at the place of their original establishment, though the original cause may have disappeared. This phenomenon is referred to as inertia, sometimes as geographical inertia and sometimes industrial inertia. The lock industry at Aligarh is such an example.

The industry that brought forward more manufacturers in recent years by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is Automobile industry

Textile industry contributes 14% to industrial production and 4 per cent to GDP. With employment to 45 million people, textile industry is one of the largest source of employment generation in the country. The industry accounts for nearly 13 per cent of total export earnings of India

The development of the manufacturing industries.

The fertillizer industry is centred around the production of nitrogenous fertilisers, phosphatic fertilisers, and ammonium phosphate and complex fertilisers which have a combination of nitrogen, phosphate and potash.

Cotton textile and Petrochemical industry are the major beneficiaries of the Mumbai port.

Raw material and power: 

In determining the location of an industry, nearness to sources of raw material is of vital importance. Nearness to the sources of raw materials would reduce the cost of production of the industry.

Regular supply of power is a pre-requisite for the localization of industries. Coal, mineral oil and hydro-electricity are the three important conventional sources of power. Most of the industries tend to concentrate at the source of power.

Transport and man power: 

Transport facilities, generally, influence the location of industry. The transportation with its three modes, i.e., water, road, and rail collectively plays an important role. So the junction points of water-ways, roadways and railways become humming centres of industrial activity. Further, the modes and rates of transport and transport policy of Government considerably affect the location of industrial units.

Adequate supply of cheap and skilled labour is necessary for and industry. The attraction of an industry towards labour centers depends on the ratio of labour cost to the total cost of production which Weber calls ‘Labour cost of Index’.

Water, market and government policies: 

Water is another important require­ment for industries. Many industries are established near rivers, canals and lakes, because of this reason. Iron and steel industry, textile industries and chemical industries require large quantities of water, for their proper functioning.

The entire process of manufacturing is useless until the finished goods reach the market. Nearness to market is essential for quick disposal of manufactured goods. It helps in reducing the transport cost and enables the consumer to get things at cheaper rates.

Government activity in planning the future distribution of industries, for reducing regional disparities, elimination of pollution of air and water and for avoiding their heavy clustering in big cities, has become no less an important location factor.

Mumbai is leading the center of the cotton industry in India. Factors responsible for the growth of cotton textile industries in Mumbai are as follows:

1. Raw materials: The nearby lava region forming the hinterland of the Mumbai port produces raw cotton. Mumbai is the collecting center of raw cotton for export and mills use. 
2. Port Facilities: Mumbai port has excellent harbour facilities for importing long staple cotton and machinery to meet the requirements of the mill.
3. Humid Climate: Mumbai has humid climate essential for spinning and weaving.
4. Water: Abundant supplies of water is available for dyeing and bleaching.
5. Labour: There are supplies of skilled and skilled workers in large number.

The organic chemical industries get their raw materials from byproducts of mineral oil which is processed and refined at oil refineries therefore these industries are located near oil refineries.