MUMBAI: Maharashtra and Gujarat are often touted as India’s industrious states, but it’s down south in Tamil Nadu that has the highest number of factories. In terms of investments and employment generation however, Gujarat and Maharashtra take pole positions, respectively.
As per the latest RBI Handbook of Statistics on Indian States 2016-17, Tamil Nadu tops the list of states accounting for 16 per cent of total number of factories in the country as on FY15, followed by Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Interestingly, while developed countries were reeling under recession during 2008-09, India’s top five states saw spectacular growth in the number of factories being set up.
For instance, Maharashtra saw a phenomenal 43.35 per cent jump between FY10 and FY11. Ditto with TN and Gujarat, which clocked 37.5 and 37 per cent growth, respectively during the same period. In fact, the total number of factories across the country grew over 33 per cent, primarily due to the government’s fiscal stimulus and the massive push given to infrastructure projects.
But in terms of investments, it’s Gujarat that saw the highest investments at Rs 60,655.89 crore or 17.3 per cent of the total investments across the country as on FY15. Maharashtra comes a close second having attracted capital worth Rs 50,000 crore.
While Karnataka and Odisha do not figure in the top five states in terms of number of factories, they saw higher investment flow and figure among the top five states, probably due to the presence of capital-intensive mining sector. As a result, though the number of factories is comparatively lower, for both investments and employment, these two states figure among the top five.
In terms of job creation, Maharashtra leads the pack employing nearly five lakh as of FY13 — the latest data available as per the Annual Survey of Industries. Other states like West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Odisha, Karnataka and Haryana, too, emerged as top employers alongside Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, according to the fourth census done in 2006-07,Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of SMEs aggregating 44.03 lakh.
UP tops in small and medium enterprises
As per the fourth census done in 2006-07, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of small and medium scale enterprises aggregating 44.03 lakh, followed by West Bengal (34.64 lakh), Tamil Nadu (33.13 lakh) and Maharashtra (30.63 lakh)