3. The Ahmedabad-Vadodra Industrial Region

This is the third largest industrial region of the country (Fig. 11.18). The main cause for the development of this industrial region is the availability of cotton in the hinterland, availability of cheap land, cheap skilled and unskilled labour, port facilities, and nearness of petroleum (Kioli), thermal (Dhuvaran), Hydel (Ukai Project), and nuclear power station (Kakrapara).

There are over 11 thousand registered factories in this region engaging over 15 lakh workers.

It is the second largest cotton textile industrial centre in the country. It also specialises in chemical industries, engineering goods, and pharmaceutical products. Vadodrais an important centre of woollen textile and petrochemical goods. Surat is well known for silk textile and diamond cutting. The other important industrial centres of this region are Anand, Ankleshwar Bhavnagar, Bharuch, Godhra, Himmatnagar, Jamnagar, Kalol, Kheda, Nadiad, Navsri, Rajkot, and Surendernagar.

Scarcity of water and shortage of good quality of cotton are some of the important problems of the region. For the last few years, communal tension has adversely affected the investment in industries in this region.