Industry In Kutch

Industrialization in Gujarat did not have a major impact on Kutch till the year 2000. After the earthquake of 2001, the Government of India and the State Government of Gujarat started providing incentives with relaxations in excise duty and sale tax to promote rapid industrialization in Kutch. Incentives given by the governments have facilitated a boom in the number of attracted industries and investments in the region. After the special incentives are provided for Kutch in the year 2001 industrial progress attained a new momentum. After 2001 in Gujarat projects with a total investment of INR 612.61 billion were sanctioned and out of it projects of INR 179.55 billion (till August 2004) were in Kutch, which is a remarkable 29 % of the total investment in Gujarat. This figure has crossed INR 200 billion in January 2005 and further crossed INR 300 billion in June 2015.

Projects already commissioned have provided employment to 12988 persons and project under implementation will provide employment to around 72,494 persons. During August 1991 to 2000, estimated employment in the industrial projects in Kutch was a total of 5,710 persons. On the other hand, the same after 2001 in a span of four years was 5,527 persons which were considerably high. Kutch is one of the significant receivers of FDI in the state. FDI approvals received in Kutch are in Vegetable Oils and Vanaspati, Electronics and Mineral based industries.

Government of India and Government of Gujarat also have taken initiatives to facilitate a conducive industrial and business environment to support rapid growth in the region. The central government has converted the Kandla Free Trade Zone (FTZ) into a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and the state government has cleared the Adani Group’s proposal of establishing a large SEZ in Mundra. Successive infrastructure development in road and railways sector is also going to play an extremely important role supporting the region as the future industrial powerhouse in Gujarat.

Emerging Product Groups and Spatial Distribution Pattern

Within past ten years, there is extensive change in the industrial mix in the region. There were only seven basic types of industries in the 2000, which has increased to a total of 14 different types in 2004 and became a total of 18 different types when the projects under implementation are considered.

List of different types of industries in Kutch can be summarised as under:

  1. Non-Metallic Minerals
  2. Timber and Wood Product
  3. Salt
  4. Chemical and Chemical Products
  5. Beverages
  6. Paper Products
  7. Rubber and Plastics
  8. Non-conventional energy i.e., Wind and Solar
  9. Electrical Machineries
  10. Textile and Garments
  11. Edible Oil
  12. Metcock
  13. Cosmetics and Soaps
  14. Gas Cylinder
  15. Aluminum and Household Utensils
  16. Sugar
  17. Cement
  18. Pipe Coating

Prior to the year 2000, industries in Kutch were mostly concentrated in Bhuj and Gandhidham talukas, however there were few standalone industries in other talukas, e.g. Sanghi Cement in Abdasa. But there is an interesting spread of this concentration towards Bhachau, Mundra and Anjar talukas after 2001.

Emerging Product Groups and Spatial Distribution Pattern

Within past ten years, there is extensive change in the industrial mix in the region. There were only seven basic types of industries in the 2000, which has increased to a total of 14 different types in 2004 and became a total of 18 different types when the projects under implementation are considered.

List of different types of industries in Kutch can be summarised as under:

  1. Non-Metallic Minerals
  2. Timber and Wood Product
  3. Salt
  4. Chemical and Chemical Products
  5. Beverages
  6. Paper Products
  7. Rubber and Plastics
  8. Non-conventional energy i.e., Wind and Solar
  9. Electrical Machineries
  10. Textile and Garments
  11. Edible Oil
  12. Metcock
  13. Cosmetics and Soaps
  14. Gas Cylinder
  15. Aluminum and Household Utensils
  16. Sugar
  17. Cement
  18. Pipe Coating

Prior to the year 2000, industries in Kutch were mostly concentrated in Bhuj and Gandhidham talukas, however there were few standalone industries in other talukas, e.g. Sanghi Cement in Abdasa. But there is an interesting spread of this concentration towards Bhachau, Mundra and Anjar talukas after 2001.

Large Industries

  • Within past ten years, there is extensive change in the industrial mix and growth of large industries in the region.
  • Renuka Sugar has established their single largest sugar processing plant at Bharapar (4 km away from Gandhidham).
  • Anjar has emerged as a global pipeline hub, with five big companies- Welspun Gujarat, Jindal Saw, PSL, Man Industries and Ratnamani – creating pipe capacity of 1.5 million tones/year, now being doubled.
  • Cement plants are coming up, using Kutch’s plentiful limestone and lignite.
  • Steel mills and plate mills are coming up, catering to the pipe industry.
  • Welspun India has built one of the biggest export – oriented home furnishing factories in India.
  • Adani port is building a huge Special Economic Zone at Mundra.
  • Caveat: some of this would have come up even without tax breaks.

Timber and Wood Products

Timber is a Rs 7,000 crore industry here. Every month, around three lakh CBM of wood is imported at Kandla. Kutch Timber industry is one of the largest timber industries in the Asia sub-continent. After granting of permission in 1995, for import of timber under ‘open general license’, the timber industry in Kutch has grown leaps and bounds. The increase in the imports of timber has been increased to 67% that is from 8.47 cbmto 13.40 cbm lakhs in the last decade. The imports of timber have been mainly from Malaysia, Indonesia, Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Most of these projects are coming in Bhachau and Anjar talukas with proximity to Kandla Port for manufacturing veneers and other wood products. Each year around 40 lakh cmb in imported. 65% of India’s timber imports lands at Kandla port, which serves west, central and north India. There are more than 2,000 sawmills and around 100 plywood factories in Gandhidham.

Industrial Estates in Kutch

Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation has 11 industrial estates in Kutch, in which, there are 2 in Bhuj taluka, 2 in Gandhidham taluka, 2 in Mundra, 1 each in Nakhatrana, Rapar and Anjar taluka. Total area under these industrial estates is 531.39 hectares and out of that 166.97 hectare is developed with infrastructure and 76.89-hectare of land is already allocated to the industrial units. Available land for allocation is 90.08 hectare and recently GIDC had required 188.46-hectare land in Mundra Taluka for industrial estate. Internal roads are completed in 6 industrial estates, water supply is available in 5 industrial estates, and Gandhidha Municipality is supplying water in Gandhidham industrial estate. Drainage lines are constructed in Bhuj, Gandhidham and Anjar industrial estates.

SR NO LOCATION TALUKA AREA DEVELOPED AREA ALLOCATED AREA AVAILABLE AREA
1 Bhuj Bhuj 30.75 30.75 21.43 9.32
2 Nagor Bhuj 6.47 6.47 3.9 2.57
3 Madhapar Bhuj 2.12 2.12 1.27 0.85
4 Gandhidham Gandhidham 10.66 10.66 6.48 4.18
5 Mithirohar Gandhidham 170.44 40 0 40
6 Anjar Anjar 21.04 13.71 10 3.71
7 Mundra Mundra 189.91 1.33 0.98 0.35
8 Dhrub Mundra 46.94 42 30.81 11.19
9 Mandvi Mandvi 39.93 19.93 2.02 17.91
10 Nakhatrana Nakhatrana 4.47 0 0 0
11 Makhel Rapar 8.66 0 0 0
Total 531.39 166.97 76.89 90.08

(Area In Hectares)

Kandla and Mundra Special Economic Zone

Kandla SEZ (Special Economic Zone) is situated in Gulf of Kutch on West Coast of India in Gujarat state, which shares strategic location and is well connected with the two significant seaports Mundra Port & Kandla Port that make it an imperative destination for the local as well as foreign companies, looking for the international trading.

  • Rapidly Growing Consumption Place
  • One of The Biggest Manufacturing Destination in India
  • Main Gateway to Delhi – Mumbai Industrial Corridor
  • Requires Less Capital Investment
  • Low Warehousing Cost
  • State of the Art Infrastructure
  • All the Services Available Under One Roof

Mundra Special Economic Zone is an ambitious mega-project promoted by Adani Group covering a 100 sq km of land near the Mundra Port. The group is planning to invest more than INR 20 billion for the project and currently, most of the project planning is being carried out. It has been recently seen that many large multi-national and national groups are interested to invest in Mundra SEZ. With a large amount of land and planned state of the art infrastructure provisions, by attracting a massive amount of investments, Mundra SEZ is capable of changing the economic dynamics of the region.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)

There are many small industrial clusters in Kutch. Cluster of common salt industries are in Mundra, Bhachau, Anjar and Gandhidham. Cluster of printing of cloth industry at Anjar. Cluster of printing, publishing of books and journals industries are at Bhuj. Clusters of mineral processing units are at Bhuj, Mandvi and Mundra. Apart from big projects, investment in micro, small and medium enterprises are increased over last decade.

PARTICULARS NO. OF UNITS INVESTMENT IN LAND &UILDING (Rs. IN Cr.) INVESTMENT IN PLANT & ACHINERY (Rs. Cr.) TOTAL
Manufacturing Sector 1293 433.32 805.23 1238.55
Service Sector 349 118.91 126.19 245.1
Total 1642 552.23 931.42 1483.65