Explain with examples any five geographical factors that affect localisation of an industry at a particular place in India.

Explanation

Location of industries is influenced by several factors like access to raw materials, water supply, climate, soil, minerals power, market, capital, transport and labour, etc. Some of them are:
(i) Raw materials: Industries using weight losing raw materials are located in the regions where raw materials are located. Example, most of the iron and steel industries are located either near coalfields (Bokaro, Durgapur, etc.) or near sources of iron ore (Bhadravati, Bhilai, and Rourkela).
(ii) Power: Power provides the motive force for machines, certain industries, like aluminium and synthetic nitrogen manufacturing industries tend to be located near sources of power because they are power intensive and require huge quantum of electricity.
(iii) Market: Markets provide the outlets for manufactured products. Cotton textile industry uses a non-weight-losing raw material and is generally located in large urban centre, example, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, etc. Petroleum refineries are also located near the markets as the transport of crude oil. Koyali, Mathura and Barauni refineries are typical examples.
(iv) Transport: Industries are concentrated in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and in and around Kolkata. The industries shifted to interior locations, only when railway lines were laid.
(v) Labour: In India, labour is quite mobile and is available in large numbers due to our large population. Example, cheap labour available from thickly populated part of Bihar, eastern U.P. and Orissa contributed to the development of Hugli Industrial region.