Advantages and Factors of Development

(i) Raw material: This region is an important producer of cotton and sugar cane providing raw material for cotton textile and sugar industries. Minerals like iron ore, gold, bauxite, magnetite, etc. are also found here. They serve as raw materials for a number of industries.

(ii) Climate: This region has a mild climate which is suitable for hard work round the year.

(iii) Research institutions: Research institutions like Central Sugar cane Research Institute, Coimbatore, and Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, situated in this region provide skilled workers and technical support.

(iv) Transport: This region has a dense network of railways and roads and connected to Chennai, Mumbai and Mangalore ports

(v) Sources of energy: This region does not have coal reserves but hydroelectricity is available. This region has taken advantage of Mettur, Shivasamudram, Papanasam, Pykara and Sharavati hydroelectric power projects.

Important Industries: This region has a variety of industries. Industries like cotton textiles, silk textiles, sugar, leather goods, chemicals, and machine tools have developed here. A number of large public sector industries like Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd.; Indian Telephone Industries, Bharat Electronics and Hindustan Aeronautics are situated in this region. Bhadravati Steel Plant under the management control of SAIL is also situated in this region.

Chief Industrial Centres: Madurai, Sivakasi, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Madukottai, Mettur, Bangalore, Mysore and Mandya are the important industrial centres. Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) and Bangalore (Karnataka) have witnessed a rapid industrial development during the last some years.