Geography
Industries and Transport
Industries and Transport — Quick Revision
One-page CGPSC quick revision for Industries and Transport: industrial regions, plants, roads, railways, waterways, ports, airports and pipelines in tables.
Industrial regions, major industries and every transport mode on one page. For explanations, go back to the chapter.
How to use this sheet
Scan it top to bottom in the week before Prelims. Bold entries are the facts examiners return to most often.
Industrial Location and Regions
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Least-cost theory | Alfred Weber, 1909 |
| Weight-losing raw material | Industry at the source: steel, cement, sugar |
| Pure raw material | Industry can be near market: cotton |
| Power-oriented | Aluminium smelters |
| Market-oriented | Inland refineries (Mathura, Panipat), consumer goods |
| NCERT scheme | 8 major, 13 minor regions, 15 industrial districts |
| 8 major regions | Mumbai–Pune; Hugli; Bangalore–Chennai; Gujarat; Chotanagpur; Vishakhapatnam–Guntur; Gurgaon–Delhi–Meerut; Kollam–Thiruvananthapuram |
| Identities | Hugli = jute; Chotanagpur = steel; Gujarat = petrochemicals; Gurgaon–Delhi–Meerut = market; Kollam–Thiruvananthapuram = plantations |
| Chhattisgarh | Durg–Raipur and Bilaspur–Korba = minor regions |
| DMIC | Western DFC; Japan; Dholera, AURIC, Greater Noida, Vikram Udyogpuri |
| VCIC | First phase of ECEC; ADB |
| NICDP | 11 corridors; 12 new industrial smart cities approved Aug 2024 (about ₹28,602 crore) |
Major Industries
| Industry | Must-know facts |
|---|---|
| Tata Steel | Jamshedpur, 1907, private |
| Bhilai | Durg, CG; USSR; first blast furnace 4 Feb 1959; rails |
| Rourkela | Odisha; West Germany |
| Durgapur | West Bengal; UK |
| Bokaro | Jharkhand; USSR; early 1970s |
| Visakhapatnam (RINL) | First shore-based integrated plant |
| Nagarnar | Bastar; NMDC Steel; 3 MTPA; 3 Oct 2023 |
| India in steel | 2nd largest crude steel producer since 2018 |
| Cotton | 1818 Fort Gloster (failed); 1854 Mumbai (first successful); Ahmedabad = Manchester of India |
| PM MITRA | 7 mega textile parks (2023) |
| Jute | 1855 Rishra; Hugli belt; India largest producer; Jute Packaging Materials Act 1987 |
| Sugar | Perishable cane; southward shift (sucrose, season, yield, co-ops) |
| Cement | 1904 Chennai; India 2nd largest; CG hub Baloda Bazar |
| Aluminium | NALCO Angul; BALCO Korba (1965; 51% to Sterlite 2001); Hindalco Renukoot |
| Fertiliser | Sindri 1951; gas plants along HBJ; neem-coated urea 2015 |
| Refining | Digboi 1901 oldest; Jamnagar largest complex |
| IT | Bengaluru “Silicon Valley of India”; STPI 1991 |
Roads
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| NH length | About 1,46,560 km (2025); 91,287 km in 2014 |
| NH numbering | Even = north–south; odd = east–west; 3 digits = spur |
| NHAI / BRO | 1995 operational / 1960 |
| Golden Quadrilateral | 5,846 km; Delhi–Mumbai–Chennai–Kolkata |
| N–S / E–W corridors | Srinagar–Kanyakumari / Silchar–Porbandar; cross at Jhansi |
| Bharatmala Phase I | 34,800 km; 2017 |
| PMGSY | 25 Dec 2000 |
| Expressways | About 3,052 km access-controlled (end-2025) |
Railways
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First train | 16 Apr 1853, Bori Bunder–Thane |
| Gauges | BG 1.676 m; MG 1 m; NG 0.762 / 0.610 m |
| Electrification | ~99.2% of BG (Nov 2025) |
| Eastern DFC | Ludhiana–Sonnagar, 1,337 km (2023) |
| Western DFC | Dadri–JNPT, 1,506 km (Mar 2026) |
| Konkan Railway | Roha–Thokur; 1998 |
| Mountain railways (UNESCO) | Darjeeling 1999, Nilgiri 2005, Kalka–Shimla 2008 |
| Newest zone | South Coast Railway, Visakhapatnam, from 1 June 2026 |
Chhattisgarh Transport
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| SECR | HQ Bilaspur, 2003; divisions Bilaspur, Raipur, Nagpur |
| Trunk line | Howrah–Mumbai via Raigarh–Bilaspur–Raipur–Durg |
| KK line | Kirandul–Kottavalasa: Bailadila ore to Visakhapatnam (not SECR) |
| NH 53 | Durg–Raipur–Saraipali (east–west) |
| NH 30 | Raipur–Kanker–Jagdalpur–Konta (Bastar) |
| NH 130 | Raipur–Bilaspur–Ambikapur, ~291 km |
| NH-130CD | Raipur–Visakhapatnam Economic Corridor, ~464 km, Abhanpur–Sabbavaram; CG, Odisha, AP |
| Airports | Raipur Swami Vivekananda; Bilaspur Bilasa Devi Kevat (1942); Jagdalpur Maa Danteshwari; Ambikapur Maa Mahamaya |
| Gas | Mumbai–Nagpur–Jharsuguda pipeline (GAIL, ~1,707 km) |
Waterways, Ports, Air, Pipelines
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| IWAI | 1986, Noida |
| NW Act 2016 | 111 NWs; 29 operational (2024–25) |
| NW-1 | Ganga, Prayagraj–Haldia, 1,620 km, 1986 |
| NW-2 | Brahmaputra, Sadiya–Dhubri, 891 km, 1988 |
| NW-3 | West Coast Canal, Kottapuram–Kollam, 1993 |
| Coastline | 7,516.6 km (old) → 11,098.81 km (re-assessed) |
| Major ports | 12; Vadhavan (Palghar) to be the 13th |
| Port superlatives | Kandla tidal; JNPA largest container; Ennore first corporatised; Vizag deepest landlocked; Kolkata riverine; Mormugao iron ore |
| Vizhinjam | Kerala; first deep-water transshipment port; 2025; not a major port |
| Sagarmala | 2015 |
| Air | Nationalised 1953; AAI 1 Apr 1995; Air India to Tata Jan 2022 |
| UDAN | 2016; first flight 2017; ~160 airports (2025) |
| Pipelines | Naharkatiya–Barauni (first crude); HBJ (gas); PM Urja Ganga; MNJPL |
Don’t Confuse
| This | vs | That |
|---|---|---|
| Durg–Raipur — minor region | vs | Chotanagpur — major region |
| Bhilai — USSR, Chhattisgarh | vs | Bokaro — USSR, Jharkhand |
| Rourkela — West Germany | vs | Durgapur — UK |
| BALCO — Korba | vs | NALCO — Angul |
| Nagarnar — NMDC Steel | vs | Bhilai — SAIL |
| Golden Quadrilateral — metros on edges | vs | N–S/E–W — cross at Jhansi |
| Eastern DFC — Ludhiana–Sonnagar | vs | Western DFC — Dadri–JNPT |
| SECR — Bilaspur, 2003 | vs | South Coast Railway — Visakhapatnam, 2026 |
| NW-1 — Ganga, Prayagraj–Haldia | vs | NW-2 — Brahmaputra, Sadiya–Dhubri |
| Vadhavan — future major port | vs | Vizhinjam — transshipment port, not major |
Favourite MCQ traps
- Rourkela is West German, not Soviet.
- Sugar is moving south, not north.
- Even-numbered NHs run north–south.
- N–S and E–W corridors meet at Jhansi, not Nagpur.
- India has 12 major ports as of 2026.
- NW-1 starts at Prayagraj, not Haridwar.
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