Iron and Steel and Heavy Industries

Iron and steel

• The basic industry. India is the second largest crude steel producer in the world after China (about 140-150 million tonnes in 2024-25).
• Why the industry is near the coalfields and the iron belts: the raw material weighs more than the finished product; so plants cluster in the Chotanagpur plateau.
• Integrated plants and their locations:

• SAIL (1973) is the public sector steel giant; Steel Authority of India Limited.
• Minimills use scrap and are spread out.

Aluminium

• Needs bauxite and large power. Plants: Hirakud (Odisha), Korba (Chhattisgarh), Renukoot (UP), Mettur (Tamil Nadu), Alupuram (Kerala), Belgaum.
• NALCO (National Aluminium Company), Damanjodi and Angul; Hindalco; Vedanta.

Cement

• Limestone, coal, gypsum are inputs. India is the second largest producer after China.
• The first plant was at Chennai in 1904.
• Leading states: Rajasthan, Andhra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat.

Fertiliser and chemicals

• Nitrogenous (urea) using natural gas, phosphatic (DAP), potassic (imported).
• FACT, Alwaye (Kerala, 1943) the first; Sindri (Jharkhand, first big plant 1951; closed and revived); Nangal (Punjab); Gorakhpur; Namrup (Assam); Hazira, Jagdishpur (UP).
• Fertiliser is heavily subsidised. India imports phosphate and potash.
• Petrochemicals: Jamnagar, Dahej, Haldia, Panipat.

Other heavy industries

• Shipbuilding: Cochin Shipyard, Mazagon Dock, Garden Reach (Kolkata), Hindustan Shipyard (Visakhapatnam); INS Vikrant was built at Cochin (2022).
• Locomotives: Chittaranjan (West Bengal), Varanasi (DLW), Patiala (modernisation); Integral Coach Factory (Perambur, Chennai), Rail Coach Factory (Kapurthala).
• Automobiles: Chennai (Detroit of India), Pune, Gurugram-Manesar, Sanand, Chakan.
• Aircraft: HAL (Bengaluru), Nashik, Kanpur.
• Electronics: Bengaluru (Silicon Valley of India), Noida, Hyderabad; semiconductor projects in Gujarat (Dholera, Sanand).