Economic Geography of India: Agriculture, Minerals, Energy, Industry and Transport

Agriculture

• Cropping seasons:

Season	Sown / harvested	Crops
Kharif	Sown June–July (monsoon), harvested September–October	Rice, maize, jowar, bajra, cotton, groundnut, soybean, jute, arhar
Rabi	Sown October–December, harvested March–April	Wheat, barley, gram, mustard, peas, masoor
Zaid	March–June	Watermelon, cucumber, moong, fodder

• Major crops and leading states (recent years):
  • Rice: West Bengal, UP, Punjab. Bihar is a significant producer.
  • Wheat: UP, MP, Punjab.
  • Maize: Karnataka, MP, Bihar.
  • Pulses: MP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra.
  • Sugarcane: UP, Maharashtra.
  • Cotton: Gujarat, Maharashtra.
  • Jute: West Bengal, Bihar, Assam.
  • Tea: Assam, West Bengal.
  • Coffee: Karnataka.
  • Rubber: Kerala.
• India's global rank:
  • 1st in milk, pulses and jute;
  • 2nd in rice, wheat, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables;
  • India became the largest rice exporter.
• Irrigation:
  • About 55% of net sown area is irrigated.
  • Main sources: tube wells and wells (more than 60%), canals, tanks.
  • Schemes: PMKSY ("Har Khet Ko Pani", "Per Drop More Crop").
• Revolutions:
  • Green (food grains);
  • White (milk): Operation Flood, Verghese Kurien;
  • Blue (fish);
  • Yellow (oilseeds);
  • Golden (horticulture);
  • Pink (meat and prawns);
  • Sweet (honey).

Minerals

Mineral	Main areas	Notes
Iron ore	Odisha (Keonjhar, Sundargarh), Jharkhand (Noamundi, West Singhbhum), Chhattisgarh (Bailadila), Karnataka (Bellary)	Odisha is the top producer; hematite and magnetite
Coal	Jharkhand (Jharia, Bokaro, Karanpura, Rajmahal), Odisha (Talcher), Chhattisgarh (Korba), West Bengal (Raniganj)	Mostly Gondwana coal; Jharkhand and Odisha have the largest reserves, about a quarter each
Manganese	Odisha, MP, Maharashtra, Karnataka
Bauxite	Odisha (Panchpatmali), Jharkhand (Lohardaga), Chhattisgarh, Gujarat	Aluminium ore
Copper	Jharkhand (Singhbhum, Ghatshila), Rajasthan (Khetri), MP (Malanjkhand)
Mica	Jharkhand (Koderma, Giridih), Andhra (Nellore), Rajasthan
Uranium	Jaduguda (Jharkhand), Tummalapalle (Andhra)	UCIL
Gold	Karnataka (Kolar, Hutti)
Petroleum	Mumbai High, Gujarat, Assam (Digboi, 1889, the oldest refinery), Rajasthan (Barmer)
Limestone	MP, Rajasthan, AP, Bihar (Rohtas)	For cement

The Chotanagpur plateau is India's mineral storehouse (the "Ruhr of India").

Energy

• Installed capacity: roughly 480–500 GW in 2025. Coal-based power is still the largest share.
• Non-fossil capacity: passed 50% of installed capacity in 2025, well ahead of the 2030 target in India's NDC.
• Targets: 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 and net zero by 2070.
• Solar: Rajasthan (Bhadla) and Gujarat lead. Wind: Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
• Nuclear power plants: Tarapur (1969, the first), Rawatbhata, Kudankulam, Kaiga, Narora, Kakrapar, Kalpakkam.
• Hydropower: Bhakra–Nangal, Tehri, Sardar Sarovar, Nagarjunasagar.
• The DVC (1948) was modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority. Its dams are Tilaiya, Konar, Maithon and Panchet.

Industry: location factors

• Industries locate near raw materials, power, labour, markets, transport, capital and government policy.
• Weight-losing raw materials (iron ore, coal, sugarcane) pull an industry towards the raw material.

Industry	Location logic	Examples
Iron and steel	Near iron ore and coal	TISCO, Jamshedpur (1907); SAIL plants at Bokaro (USSR help), Bhilai (USSR), Rourkela (Germany), Durgapur (UK); Vizag; Salem
Cotton textiles	Raw cotton, humid climate, ports, markets	Mumbai, Ahmedabad ("Manchester of India"), Coimbatore
Jute	Raw jute, water, cheap labour, port	Hooghly belt
Sugar	Sugarcane is weight-losing and perishable	UP, Maharashtra; north Bihar (old mills)
Cement	Limestone	MP, Rajasthan; Bihar (Rohtas, Banjari)
Petrochemicals	Refineries, ports	Jamnagar (world's largest refinery complex), Barauni (Bihar, 1964)
IT and services	Skilled labour, infrastructure	Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune

Transport and communication

• Roads:
  • India has about 63 lakh km of roads, the 2nd largest network in the world.
  • NHDP (1999): the Golden Quadrilateral and the NS–EW corridors.
  • Bharatmala; PMGSY (rural roads, 2000).
  • NH 44 is the longest national highway (Srinagar–Kanyakumari).
• Railways:
  • The first train ran Bombay–Thane, 16 April 1853.
  • It is run through zonal railways. East Central Railway has its headquarters at Hajipur (Bihar).
  • The Dedicated Freight Corridors are the Eastern DFC (Ludhiana–Sonnagar) and the Western DFC.
  • Semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains; the Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail project.
• Waterways:
  • NW-1 (Ganga, Prayagraj–Haldia), with multimodal terminals at Varanasi, Sahibganj (Jharkhand) and Haldia.
  • NW-2 (Brahmaputra) and NW-3 (West Coast Canal, Kerala).
• Ports:
  • There are 12 major ports.
  • Deendayal (Kandla) handles the most cargo.
  • JNPT is the biggest container port.
  • Vizhinjam (Kerala) is India's first deep-water transhipment port (2025).
• Air: the UDAN regional connectivity scheme (2016).
• Communication:
  • BharatNet (rural broadband);
  • India has the second-largest internet user base in the world;
  • 5G since 2022.

Exam tip: Chotanagpur's minerals and industry are among the most asked topics in JPSC and BPSC. Learn mineral, district and plant together, for example: Noamundi iron, Jharia coal, TISCO Jamshedpur; Lohardaga bauxite, Muri alumina; Jaduguda uranium, UCIL.