Engineering Industry in India
Since independence India has made great advancement in engineering industry. The substantial increase in the production of iron, steel and alloy steel has generated a congenial atmosphere for the development of the various branches of this industry.
- Locomotive engineering: Production of steam locomotive for ed-power and raw materials. At present, electric engines are also manufactured here. Diesel and electric (broad-gauge) engines are also produced at Varanasi. Jamshedpur manufactures meter-gauge steam engines. The building of railway coaches at Perambur (near Chennai) and Bangalore and railway wagons in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi are also important.
- Automobile engineering: In India important automobile manufacturing centers are located at Mumbai, Chennai, Jamshedpur, Jabalpur and Kolkata (Hind Motors). Since 1983 Maruti Udyog Limited at Gurgaon in Haryana is manufacturing passenger cars and vans. Faridabad and Mysore manufacture motor cycles and tempo; Lucknow, Satara and Jaipur, Hyderabad manufacture scooters. At present India produces about 90% of these automobile parts.
Tractors are also being manufactured for the need of Indian agriculture.
- Petrochemical Industry: Petrochemicals are chemicals that are obtained from naphtha and natural gas. Naphtha is the residue of crude petroleum after its refining in the refinery plant. Petrochemicals are little used directly but the various petrochemicals are processed as plastics, synthetic fiber, pharmaceuticals, synthetic rubber, fertilizer, pesticides, solvents, perfumery and a host of other.
The petrochemical industry of India can be divided into three categories based on locational characteristics viz.
(1) Petrochemical industries associated with petroleum refining centers,
(2) petrochemical complex on natural gas field and
(3) market oriented petrochemical industry.
- Petrochemical Industry based on Petroleum Refineries: The various petrochemical plants based on naphtha of petroleum refineries are Bombay (1966), Thane near Bombay, Koyali in Gujarat, Bongaigaon in Assam, Haldia in West Bengal and Jamnagar in Gujarat.
- Petro-chemical complex based on Natural Gas: Petrochemical complex based on natural gas of Lunej or Khambhat gas fields are Vadodara and Naldhari, both are located in Gujarat. Based on natural gas of Mumbai High at South Bassein petrochemical industries have also been developed at Gandhar and Hazira both in Gujarat. Natural gases of the Mumbai High are transported through pipe lines, constructed by Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).
- Market Oriented Petrochemical center: A long pipe line known as Hazira-Bijapur-Jagadishpur (HBJ) pipe line has been constructed recently by GAIL for transporting natural gas of the Gujarat and Mumbai High gas fields. This has enabled to develop an inland market oriented petrochemical centre at Pata in the Auraiya district of U.P. the products offers easy market to plastic processors in northern and parts of central India.
Present Position and Future Prospect: Petrochemical industry in India is one of fastest growing sector in Indian economy. Hence it is sometimes called the sunrise industry. There has been steady increase in the production and consumption of petrochemical in India. A few petrochemical complexes are to be developed at Koyali (Gujarat), Barouni (Bihar), Chennai based on petroleum refineries located there. It is expected the production of petrochemical will exceed 80 lakh tons by 2005 A.D. At present India is more or less self sufficient in the production of petrochemicals. With the growing demand of petro products it is likely that this industry will grow faster and the country will be able to export some petro-products in the foreign markets.
