Location of Industries — Practice Questions
UPSC Prelims-pattern practice questions on industrial location with explanations — Hugli jute belt, port-based steel, industrial regions, Weber.
Questions
These are original UPSC-pattern practice questions. Attempt each one before revealing the answer.
Which of the following factors favoured the concentration of jute mills along the Hugli river?
- Proximity to jute-growing areas
- Cheap water transport
- The port of Kolkata
- Large iron ore deposits nearby
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Solution
The Hugli belt had jute from the delta, cheap water transport, abundant water for processing, cheap labour and the port of Kolkata. Iron ore is irrelevant to jute processing.
Answer: B
Which integrated steel plant is described by NCERT as India’s first port-based steel plant?
Solution
The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant can import inputs and export products by sea. Bokaro and Bhilai are inland, raw-material-oriented plants built with Soviet help; Salem is an inland special-steel plant in Tamil Nadu.
Answer: A
Which one of the following is not among the major industrial regions of India identified by NCERT?
Solution
NCERT’s eight major industrial regions are Mumbai–Pune, Hugli, Bengaluru–Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Chotanagpur, Visakhapatnam–Guntur, Gurugram–Delhi–Meerut and Kollam–Thiruvananthapuram. Bundelkhand is a drought-prone, industrially backward region.
Answer: D
Which one of the following industries is best described as “footloose”?
Solution
Software and electronics assembly are not tied to bulky or perishable raw materials, so they are footloose — though they cluster for skills and connectivity. Iron and steel and cement depend on weight-losing inputs; sugar depends on perishable cane.
Answer: C
Consider the following statements regarding Weber’s theory of industrial location:
- Isodapanes are lines joining places of equal additional transport cost.
- A material index greater than one pulls industry towards the source of raw material.
- Ubiquitous raw materials are those available only at specific locations.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Solution
Statements 1 and 2 are correct. Statement 3 is wrong — ubiquitous materials are available everywhere; materials found only at specific places are localised.
Answer: B
Mains
What factors explain the concentration of information technology and IT-enabled services in a few Indian cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune?
Solution
Introduction: IT and IT-enabled services are tertiary, knowledge-based activities with no bulky raw material — in theory footloose — yet they are highly concentrated in a few metros.
Body:
- Skilled labour: engineering colleges, research institutions and a large pool of English-speaking graduates.
- Early start and agglomeration: pioneer firms, software technology parks and public-sector R&D (especially in Bengaluru) attracted suppliers, start-ups and venture capital — a self-reinforcing cluster.
- Infrastructure: international airports, data connectivity, reliable power, office space.
- Policy: State IT policies, SEZs and tax incentives.
- Quality of life and climate: amenities that attract and retain talent.
- Market access: proximity to clients, headquarters and global time-zone advantage.
Conclusion: IT shows that “footloose” industries still cluster — talent and agglomeration replace raw materials as the anchor. Spreading the sector to tier-2 cities needs skills, connectivity and urban quality, not just tax incentives.