Facilities Available and Reasons for Development

(i) Raw materials: Almonite, rutoite, zercon, and mononite sands are found in adequate quantities. Plantation, agriculture like tea, coffee, spices, etc supply raw materials to industries.

(ii) Sources of power: Hydroelectric power stations found in the region are the main sources of supply of electricity in the region. These power sources are chiefly responsible for industrialisation of the region.

(iii) Transport: The principal rail routes and national highway linking coastal regions pass through the area. Even roads are found in hilly regions. This wide network of roads and railways has helped in movement of raw materials and goods. Therefore, distribution of manufactured goods also does not face any problems.

(iv) Ports: A chief port in the area namely Kochi has many facilities available.

(v) Chief industries: Agricultural products processing related industries such as cotton textiles, sugar, rubber, matches, and fish, mineral-based industries like glass, chemical fertilisers, petroleum and its products, paperboard and coir products, fine instruments, machinery and tools, etc. are found in the area.

(vi) Principal industrial centres: The principal industrial centres of the region are Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Allappuzha, Kochi, Alwaye and Trichur.

There are thirteen Minor Industrial Regions in the country. They are Ambala-Amritsar, Saharanpur-Muzaffarnagar-Bijnor, Indore-Dewas-Uijjain, Jaipur-Ajmer, Kolhapur-South Kannada, Northern Malabar, Middle Malabar, Adilabad-Nizamabad, Allahabad-Varanasi- Mirzapur, Bhojpur-Munger, Durg-Raipur, Bilaspur-Korba, and Brahmaputra valley. Also, there are fifteen industrial districts which are Kanpur, Hyderabad, Agra, Nagpur, Gwalior, Bhopal, Lucknow, Jalpaiguri, Cuttack, Gorakhpur, Aligarh, Kota, Purnia, Jabalpur and Bareilly.