There are no fixed criteria for the delimitation of industrial regions. Following parameters have been suggested by the scholars to delimit industrial regions.

These include : (i) number of factories, (ii) number of industrial workers, (iii) population en­gaged in productivity activity, (iv) percentage of industrial workers to total working population, (v) amount of energy consumed, (vi) gross industrial output, (vii) value related data, and (viii) production related price-rise (for comparative study between two industrial regions).

In India the industrial development, on mod­ern scientific lines, is of very recent origin. It is after Independence through Five Year Plans that empha­sis was placed on the development of heavy and basic industries and consumer industries. Consider­ing the requirement of the country the level of industrial development and industrial production are still inadequate.

In reality the country still lacks well marked industrial belt exhibiting heavy con­centration of industries. Only there are industrial clusters of different sizes mainly located around the premier port cities which played pivotal role during the colonial period and are still the centers of devel­opment and prosperity.

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Several scholars have attempted to divide India into industrial regions. Amongst these men­tion may be made of Trewartha and Burner (1944), P.P. Karan and W.M. Jenkrins (1959), P. Das Gupta, J.E. Spencer and W.L. Thomas, R.L. Singh (1971), B.N. Sinha (1972) and C.M.I.E. (1982). A brief description of some of these classifications is given below:

2. Karan and Jenkins (1959)

P.P. Karan and W.M. Jenkins (1959) on the basis of the concentration of industries, their density and labour force have delineated 5 major, 8 minor industrial regions and 13 industrial districts in the country.

(a) Major industrial regions include-

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(1) Kolkata-Hugli region, (2) Mumbai-Pune region, (3) Ahmadabad-Baroda (Vadodara), (4) Madurai- Coimbatore-Bangalore, and (5) Chota Nagpur re­gion.

(b) Minor industrial regions are-(I) Assam valley, (2) Darjeeling Tarai, (3) North Bihar-Eastern Uttar Pradesh, (4) Delhi-Meerut, (5) Indore-Ujjain, (6) Nagpur-Wardha, (7) Dharwar-Belgaum, and (8) Godawari-Krishna delta.

(c) Industrial districts consist of-(I) Agra, (2) Amritsar, (3) Gwalior, (4) Hyderabad, (5) Jammu, (6) Jabalpur, (7) Kanpur, (8) Madras (Chennai), (9) Quilon, (10) Malabar, (II) Solapur, (12) Tripura, and (13) Vishakhapatnam. Above scheme is based on old data and obsolete technique. Here no care has been taken to use indices like gross industrial pro­duction and production related price rise. A modi­fied form of Karan’s scheme has been presented in figure 24.1 (AAAG. Vol. 54, 1964, p. 338):

3. A. Das Gupta

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A. Dasgupta has used localisation of and extent of industrial production to identify 4 major (1) Hugli, (2) Damodar, (3) Western cotton belt, and (4) Southern region) and two minor (1) Ganga-Yamuna industrial region, and (2) Central Region). Although the method has used important indices but many important industrial areas have been left out. Agra, Barauni, Kanpur etc. fall under this category.

4. J.E. Spencer and W.L. Thomas

Spencer and Thomas taking a more compre­hensive view including the changing characteristics of the industrial landscape identified four major industrial regions-(i) Kolkata-Jamshedpur; (ii) Bombay-Poona; (iii) Ahmadabad-Baroda; and (iv) Bangalore-Coimbatore-Madurai. They also indicated 2 secondary industrial regions ((1) Delhi, Meerut, and (2) Guntur-Vijayawada); two traditional handicrafts centers (Agra and Lucknow); and 10 agricultural processing centers.

5. R.L. Singh (1971)

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R.L. Singh (1971), on the basis of empirical observations, has delineated 11 industrial regions in India. These include:

(1) Kolkata-Hugli industrial region

(2) South Bihar-North Orissa Industrial Region.

(3) Ahmadabad-Vadodara Industrial Region.

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(4) Mumbai-Pune Industrial Region.

(5) Bangalore-Chennai Industrial Region.

(6) Coimbatore-Madurai-Shivkashi Industrial Region.

(7) Kerala Industrial Region.

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(8) Lucknow-Kanpur Industrial Region.

(9) Delhi-Ghaziabad-Amritsar Industrial Region.

(10) Digboi Industrial Region.

(11) Eastern U.P. and North Bihar Industrial Region.

6. B.N. Sinha (1972)

Prof. B.N. Sinha (1972), on the basis of daily number of industrial workers, has identified three types of industrial regions. (A) Major industrial regions-with a minimum daily factory working la­bour force of 0.15 million; (B) Minor industrial regions-employing 0.025 million working labour; and (C) Industrial districts-employing up to 25,000 workers. Thus he has demarcated 5 major, 14 minor and 12 industrial districts in the country.

Major Industrial Regions (05)

(1) Kolkata-Hugli industrial region, (2) Mumbai-Pune industrial region, (3) Ahmadabad- Vadodara industrial region, (4) Madurai-Coimbatore- Bangalore industrial region, and (5) Chota Nagpur industrial region. Minor Industrial Regions (14)

(l) Delhi-Meerut industrial region, (2) Godavari-Krishna region, (3) Kanpur region, (4) Malabar coast region, (5) Indore-Ujjain region, (6) Chennai region, (7) Brahmaputra valley region, (8) Nagpur-Wardha region, (9) Northern Ganga Plain region, (10) Malabar coast (Malabar) region, (11) Solapur region, (12) Darjeeling Tarai region,
(13) Hubli-Belgaum region, and (14) Malabar coast (Trichur) region.

Industrial Districts (12)

(i) Tirunelveli, (ii) North Arcot, (iii) Nizamabad, (iv) Raipur, (v) Adilabad, (vi) Agra, (vii) Amritsar, (viii) Rampur, (ix) Ramanathapuram (x) Bandra, (xi) Kachchh, and (xii) Cuttack.

7. C.M.I.E. (1908)

The centre for Moitoring Indian Economy (C.M.I.E.), on the basis of the strength of industrial employment in 1971 exceeding 10,000, has recog­nised 111 industrial centers throughout the country. These are:

Maharashtra (IOI. 2.72)-Greater Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Pune, Kolhapur, Sangli, Solapur, Ahmadnagar, Nanded, Nashik, Malegaon, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur and Dhule (total 15).

Gujarat (IOI. 1.581)-Ahmadabad, Nadiad, Vadodara, Surat, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Porbandar, Bhavnagar (Total 08).

Punjab (1.515)-Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and Amritsar (04).

Tamil Nadu (1.504)-Chennai, Kanchipuram, Salem, Coimbatore, Erode, Dindigul, Madurai, Tiruchirapally, Thanjavur, Vellore, Cuddalore, Tuticorin , Tirunelveli and Nagercoil (15).

Karnataka (1.440)-Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Bellary, Belgaum, Bhadravati and Davangiri (08).

Haryana (1.245)-Ambala and Rohtak (02).

West Bengal (1.165)-Kharagpur, Kolkata, Asansol (03).

Andhra Pradesh (0.766)-Hyderabad, Warangal, Nizamabad, Guntur, Nellore, Vijayawada, R^jahmundry, Kakinada, Vishakhapatnam and Elluru (10).

Kerala (0.760)-Thiruvananthapuram, Quilon, Alleppy, Kochi and Calicut (05).

Assam (0.628)-Guwahati (01)

Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (0.555) – Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Raipur, Durg, Burhanpur (08).

Uttar Pradesh-Uttaranchal (0.516)-Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad, Firozabad,

Ghaziabad, Meerut, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Saharanpur, Dehradun and Aligarh

(15).

Rajasthan (0.498)-Jaipur, Ajmer, Jodhpur and Kota (04).

Jammu & Kashmir (0.453)-Srinagar (01).

Bihar-Jharkhand (0.402)-Patna, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Ranchi and Jamshedpur (05).

Orissa (0.278)-Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela and Sambalpur (04).

Delhi, Chandigarh and Pondicherry (03).

These industrial centers are joined on the basis of contiguity and nearest neighbour or clustering principles so as to evolve following major industrial regions-(1) Mumbai-Pune, (2) Ahmadabad-Vadodara, (3) Faridabad-Delhi- Meerut, (4) Rourkela-Jamshedpur-Dhanbad-Asansol, (5) Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore, and (6) Hugli belt (Kolkata).

In addition to above major regions a number of secondary industrial belts comprising of centers of spread along the important trunk routes or clus­tered around a major centre may be identified as,- (i) Amritsar-Jalandhar-Ludhiana, (ii) Bareilly- Moradabad, (iii) Kanpur-Lucknow, (iv) Bhopal- Indore, (v) Nashik-Dhule, (vi) Akola-Nagpur, (vii) Hyderabad, (viii) Guntur-Vishakhapatnam, (ix)Thanjavur-Madurai-Dindigul, (x) Pondicherry, (xi) Thiruvananthapuram-Kochi, (xii) Raipur- Durg. The remaining are only isolated industrial centers.