Economy of Punjab (India)

Agriculture

Punjab (the five rivers region) is one of the most fertile regions on earth. The region is ideal for wheat-growing. Rice, sugar cane, fruits and vegetables are also grown. Indian Punjab is called the "Granary of India" or "India's bread-basket." [ [http://punjabgovt.nic.in/punjabataglance/LeadingbyExample.htm Welcome to Official Web site of Punjab, India ] ] It produces 60% of India's wheat, and 40% of India's rice. In worldwide terms, this represents 1/30th or 3% of the world's production of these crops, so Indian Punjab produces 2% of the world's cotton, 2% of its wheat and 1% of the world's rice. [ [http://punjabgovt.nic.in/punjabataglance/LeadingbyExample.htm Welcome to Official Web site of Punjab, India ] ] The largest grown crop is wheat. Other important crops are rice, cotton, sugarcane, pearl millet, maize, barley and fruit.The principal crops of Punjab are barley, wheat, rice, maize and sugarcane. Among the fodder crops are Bajra and Jowar.The main sources of irrigation are canals and tube wells.The economy of the state primarily depends upon primary sector. The "rabi" or the spring harvest consists of wheat, gram, barley, potatoes and winter vegetables. The "Kharif" or the autumn harvest consists of rice, maize, sugarcane, cotton and pulses.

Industry

The state has essentially an agrarian economy with a lower industrial output as compared to other states of India. A prominent feature of the industrial scenario of the Punjab is its small sized industrial units. There are nearly 194,000 small scale industrial units in the state in addition to 586 large and medium units.

Important industries

The industrial units in the state are broadly divided into three-
* Agro-based industrial units
* Machinery units
* Chemical units

Textlie industry

The state produces nearly 70% of the best quality cotton in India. In spite of several advantages, there is one major disadvantage that the total spindlage capacity of the state is only 1.5% of the country.

The cotton mills are located at Abohar, Malout, Phagwara, Amritsar, Kharar and Ludhiana. Malerkotla, Abohar, Malout and Bhatinda are important for cotton ginning and pressing and nearly 25.3 lakh (25,300,000) bales of cotton are pressed annually over here. About 97 million kilograms of yarn and 36.5 million metres of cloth were produced in the cotton textile mills of Punjab.

Sugar industry

The Sugar mills in Punjab are located at Batala, Gurdaspur, Bhogpur, Phagwara, Nawanshahar, Zira, Morinda, Rakhra, Dhuri, Fazilka, Nakodar, Budhewal, Bhatinda and Jagraon.

One of the salient feature of the Sugar industry is that out of the 14 mills, 12 are in the Co-operative sector and only 2 are privately owned. Compared to the state of Uttar Pradesh and some other Indian states, the size of the sugar mills in Punjab is small. The Co-operative sugar mill at Morinda is the biggest in the state with a daily crushing capacity of 4,000 tonnes of sugarcane.

Dairy industry

The primary source of milk and other dairy products in the state is the buffalo. The state ranks at the top in the country in the availability of milk.

The milk plants are mainly located at Verka (Amristar district), Ludhiana, Mohali, Jalandhar, Patiala, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Sangrur, Bhatinda, Faridkot, Nabha, Moga, Kot Kapura and Hamira. The plant at Moga is the biggest plant in the state with a processing capacity of nearly 435 thousand litres of milk.

Power

About 27% of the total energy of the state is provided by the "Ropar Thermal Plant" while the Bhakra Nangal complex provided 20.3% of the total power for the state and the Guru Nanak Thermal plant at Bhatinda accounts for about 21% of the energy to the state. Other important sources of power are the Dehar Power plant (13%), Shanan Power house at Joginder Nagar (5%), Pong Power project (4%) and UBDC power houses (2%).

The common pool projects are the Bhakra Nangal Complex, the Dehar Power plant and the Pong Power plant. Punjab shares about 51% of the Power generated from the Bhakra Nangal Complex. 48% from the Power generated at the Pong Project. [ [http://www.webindia123.com/punjab/economy/power.htm Power] Suni System (P) Ltd. Retrieved on 2007-07-27]

Common pool projects

* Bhakra Nangal Complex
* The Upper Bari Doab Canal System (UBDC)
* The Shanah Power House

Thermal electricity

* Guru Nanak power plant- It was completed in 1974. The Guru Nanak Thermal plant has four units of 440 MW capacity. This is one of the most efficiently run thermal plants in the country.

* Ropar thermal power plant- This project consists of two units capable of generating 210 MW each. The plant is spread over an area of about 2,500 acres (10 km²) on the banks of River Sutlej.

References