This region covers part of Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal states. The region enjoys facilities like large coal deposits of the Damodar Valley; iron ore, bauxite, mica, copper, manganese and lime­stone etc. from the Jharkhand, Bihar-Orissa mineral belt, power from the D.V.C. and thermal plants; cheap labour from Bihar, Orissa and eastern Uttar Pradesh. Jamshedpur, Durgapur, Asansol, Bokaro, Kulti, Burnpur are famous for iron and steel indus­try; Sindri for fertiliser industry, Chittaranjan for railway locomotives; Ramgarh and Bhurkunda for glass industry, and Khalari for cement industry.

Metallurgical and heavy industries account for 47 per cent of the total labour force of the region, followed by engineering industry (19%), food process­ing industry (10%), and chemical industries (7%). Other important industries of the region are paper, match, glass, cement, furniture and plywood indus­tries.

The region is experiencing the problems like sickness of mills, shortage of power and political turmoil (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha etc). This has slowed down the growth rate. Being the centre of metallurgical and heavy industries (called Ruhr of India) its importance is bound to grow in future as well.