Engineering industries are post-independent phenomena as India was totally dependent on other countries for her machine tools requirement before 1947. These industries are labour intensive which provides considerable employment.
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In order to strengthen the industrial base in the country, development of engineering industry is necessary. Engineering industry provides about 28 per cent of employment in public sector and accounts for about 31.2 per cent of industrial output. These industries use metals of ferrous and non-ferrous groups for making various kinds of products.
The capital goods required for textile industry, fertilizer plants, power projects, cement, steel and petro-chemical plants, mining, construction and agricultural machineries such as equipment for irrigation projects, diesel engines, pumps, tractors, transport vehicle etc are being produced indigenously, and are included in heavy equipment and machinery industry. There are some light mechanical engineering industries which are producing wrist watches, razor blades, sewing machines and bicycles etc.
Engineering industries cover a wide range of industries and contribute substantially to the manufacturing of industrial machines, machine tools, transport, transmission and telecommunication equipments, building and construction, public health and sanitation and modern sophisticated goods. These industries need a large number of components which they do not produce themselves.
Therefore, they have stimulated a large number of ancillary industries which depend upon the main engineering units. The products of the engineering industries cover a wide range varying from pins, screws, nuts and bolts through light and heavy machinery to ships, aircrafts, automobiles, rail coaches, air conditioners and computers, etc. Thus engineering industries are labour intensive and capital demanding and are located mainly in those areas where these major – components are available.
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At present, engineering industries account for about one-third of the production capital in the organised sector, one-third of the value of output and nearly 30 per cent of the employment in the public sector. Further, these industries contribute about 10 percent of the total exports of the country.
Engineering industry has witnessed great diversification during the last three decades; machineries used in the manufacture of cotton textile, jute, sugar, cement, transport equipments, earth moving equipment, tractors, pumps all are now produced indigenously.
The Indian machine tool industry is rapidly adapting itself to advance technology. Engineering industry requires foundry grade iron alloys and special tools as raw materials and skilled labour. This industry mostly scattered in and around Jamshedpur, Durgapur, Kolkata, Nagpur, Delhi, Chennai, Bhadravati, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra, Gurgaon and Noida.
Manufacturing of heavy machinery is called heavy engineering industry also. The Heavy Engineering Corporation Ltd. was set up at Ranchi in 1958. It has three projects under its management- Heavy Machine Building Plant, Foundary Forge Plant and Heavy Machine Tool Plant. The Heavy Engineering Corporation fabricates huge machines required for the iron and steel industry.
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The Mining and Allied machinery corporation. Durgapur is the largest producer of coal-mining machinery and equipment. In 1966 Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Ltd. was set up in Vishakhapatnam to manufacture the heavy plates and vessels equipment to meet the requirement of fertilizers, petrochemical and other chemical industries.
The Mazagaon Dock Ltd. is the only company which has developed the capability of the manufacturing of rigs used in off-shore drilling. Onshore drilling equipment are manufactured by the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) Hyderabad.
A plant of heavy pumps and compressors was set up at Naini (Allahabad) to meet the requirement of fertiliser, chemical, petrochemical and steel plants. The high pressure boilers and boiler fillings are manufactured at Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu. These industries tend to be raw material and market oriented.
Structural:
Structurals include a widse range of items ranging from simple structures like ordinary warehouse building to sophisticated items such as railway bridges, steel plant buildings, etc. At present, there are over 130 factories engaged in fabrication of structural items with a total capacity of about 7 lakh tonnes. The Tungabhadra Steel Products Ltd. at Tungabhadra dam in Karnataka was set up in 1947.
It manufactures structural’s including gates and hoists, transmission towers and penstock pipes. The Triveni Structurals Ltd., a public sector enterprise, was set up in 1965 at Naini (Allahabad).
It is a joint venture of Govt, of India and M/s. VOEST of Austria and manufactures complex steel structures such as building structures, crane construction, power transmission towers, pressure vessels, plate work, etc. The Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Ltd., established in 1966 at Vishakhapatnam, manufactures heavy plates and vessel equipment required by the fertilizer, petrochemical and other heavy chemical industries.
Heavy plates are used in the construction of distillation column tanks and various types of vessels. It has a capacity of 23,000 tonnes per annum. A steel structural fabricating shop was set up at Ranchi (Bihar) in 1968. It has three units viz., Heavy Machine Building Plants, Foundry Forge Plant and Heavy Machine Tools Plant. These plants produce castings, forgings and rolls to meet the requirements of heavy machine tools and heavy machine building plants.
Another plant to manufacture high pressure boilers and boiler fittings has been set up at Tiruchirapalli. Messrs Jessop and Co. Ltd. Calcutta, and Richardson & Cruddas Ltd., Mumbai produce machinery and heavy structural’s. M/s. Larsen & Tubro Ltd., at Powai (Mumbai) produce machinery, heavy equipment for steel, under carriage parts, chemical, petro-chemical and cement industries Drills for drilling holes in rocky areas are manufactured at Naroda near Ahmedabad.
Heavy machinery and structural industry has made much progress after Independence and the country is now in a position to export several items which were earlier imported from the western countries.
Industrial Machinery Manufacturing:
India today produces a wide spectrum of industrial machinery including textile, cement, sugar, paper, chemical, mining, agricultural machinery, pharmaceuticals, fertilizer, dairy, metallurgical, leather and food processing industries. These industries got a good start during the Second World War but the real progress has been achieved during the plan period.
Cotton Textile Machinery manufacturing commenced with the Textile Machinery Corporation Ltd. (TEXMACO) at Mumbai in 1939. Later on, units were also started at Gwalior, Calcutta, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad and Ludhiana. There are about 65 units which are manufacturing jute mill machinery. Complete range of jute mill machinery is indigenously manufactured in India.
The main centres of sugar mill machinery are Calcutta, Chennai, Mumbai, Allahabad, Pimpri and Yamunanagar. About 12 units are engaged in manufacturing cement machinery mainly in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Orissa and Karnataka. The main centres are Mumbai, Chennai, Pune and Delhi. It comprises of over 1446 machinery and components manufacturing units with over 600 units producing complete machinery as on 2011-12.
The Paper Mill Machinery is manufactured by nearly 20 firms. These are spread over in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar, Punjab and Orissa. The main centres are Titagarh, Jamshedpur and Rourkela.
There are about 70 projects engaged in the manufacture of chemical and pharmaceutical mill machinery manufacturing a wide range of machinery such as sulphuric acid plant, superphosphate plant- water treatment plant, solvent extraction plant heat exchangers pressure vessels, crystallizers, evaporators and a host of other machines.
Agricultural machinery covers a wide range of production including earth moving machinery, excavators, bull dozers, power tillers, steel discs, threshers, harvestors, cutters, tractors and many more implements and machines.
Faridabad, Calcutta, Chennai, Vadodara, Hyderabad, Dehagaon and Sonepat are the main centres of producing agricultural machinery. India is self-sufficient in the manufacturing of coal mining and washery machinery. The Coal Mining Machinery Project at Durgapur produces grinding mills, rotary fans, rotary kilns, power shovels, coal cutters, loaders, conveyors, haulages, electrical winders, booster fans, axial fans, automatic cape keeps, safety hooks, shutter cars and mine locomotives.
Drilling rigs and other equipments for oil exploration are also produced here. Calcutta and Jamshedpur are the other important producers. Other machines, such as power driven pumps, diesel engines, building and construction machinery, weighing machinery, dairy machinery, oil mill machinery, rubber machinery, etc. are also produced in India.
Machine Tools:
There are a number of units in the country engaged in this activity which covers a wide range of articles of various designs and specifications. The important manufactures are Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT). Machine Tool Corporation of India. Prayag Tools Ltd… Instrumentation Ltd. and National Instrument factory etc. However the most important company is HMT established in 1953. Its important plants are located at Bangalore, Pinjore (Haryana) Srinagar (Kashmir), Hyderabad and Kalamassery (Kerala).
Besides H.M.T., there are other public and private companies which produce different types of machine and hand tools. The Heavy Machine Tools Plant at Ranchi started production in 1966. It was set up with Czech assistance. With a capacity of 10,000 tonnes, it produces axle turning, radial drilling machines, burnishing lathes, wheel lathes, central lathes, double column planning machines, etc.
It also produces special machine tools for the railways. The Praga Tools Ltd., another public sector enterprise at Secunderabad is mainly meant for defence equipment and stores. It also produces machine tools and accessories, precision tools, auto and diesel parts and railway components.
The National Instruments Factory at Calcutta along with its Jadavpur unit produces precision instruments such as drawing instruments, office equipment, survey instruments, microscopes, binoculars, optical and vision sighting equipment and blood pressure equipment.
The Instrumentation Ltd., has set up a precision plant at Kota and mechanical instruments plant at Palghat (Kerala). The Kota plant manufactures magnetic, electromagnetic and electronic instruments. The Palghat plant produces hydraulic and pneumatic instruments.
In addition to the above mentioned government machine tool factories, there are over 100 private sector units. They are dispersed all over the country with greater concentration at Mumbai, Calcutta, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Thane, Pune, Coimbatore, Satara, Ludhiana and Amritsar. Today 65 per cent of machine tool consumption in India is met by indigenous manufacturers The consumption of machine tools is likely to reach Rs. 4,000 crore by 2005 from the present Rs. 1200 crore.
The automobile and defence sectors played a major role in sustaining the machine tools industry initially in the Sixties and Seventies. The vibrant consumer sector has joined the group recently and the three sectors together have spurred the demand for machine tools to the highest level.
A number of joint ventures with an investment of more than Rs. 10,000 crore are on the anvil during the next few years in the automobile industry, which augurs well for the machine tool industry. The consumption of machine tools has reached Rs. 3,000 crore/year by the turn of the century.
Heavy Electrical Engineering:
India entered the field of heavy electrical, equipment manufacturing when the Heavy Electricals (India) Ltd was set up in 1956 at. Bhopal in collaboration with a British firm. Another company, the Bharat Heavy Electricals, was formed in 1964.
The two organisations have since been merged to form one company known as Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), with 6 units located at Bhopal, Tiruchirapalli, Ramchandrapuram (Hyderabad), Jammu Bangalore and Hardwar (UP) for the manufacture of high pressure boilers, turbo sets, transformers, switch gears, etc.
The Bhopal unit is engaged in the manufacture of heavy electrical equipment required for the generation, transmission and distribution of power such as hydraulic and steam turbines, generators and motors and traction equipment. ‘The Tiruchi unit produces sophisticated boilers for various industries. It began, production of 200 mw boilers in 1973.
The Ramachandrapuram unit is designed to manufacture steam turbines and generators in capacities varying from 110 to 900 mw. It also produces air blast circuit breakers and minimum oil circuit breakers. The Hardwar unit produces steam turbines. BHEL is exporting power station equipment to Malaysia and a number of West Asian and African countries.
The company has been making concerted efforts to increase its global presence. It has achieved a break-through in the export of diesel and electric locomotives by securing for the first time an order from a Japanese firm for operation in Malaysia. It has received repeat orders for its transformers from Greece for its well heads and for Christmas tree assemblies from Bangladesh and for valves from Japan and has also secured an order for renovation and modernisation of the Siddhirganj power station in Bangladesh.
In 1997-98, BHEL has supplied gas turbines, generators and auxiliary equipment to Oman and Saudi Arabia, motors to France, Indonesia and Vietnam and surface condensors to Malaysia. In addition, it has supplied large capacity power transformers to markets in the Mediterranean and South-east Asia. The Tenom Hangi hydroelectric project in Malaysia was overhauled and recommissioned by BHEL.
Boiler:
Boiler is pressurized system in which water is vaporized to high pressure steam which may be used directly as the working fluid in prime mover to convent thermal energy to mechanical work. BHEL is the largest manufacturer of boiler in the country accounting for around 23rd of the domestic market share.
Power Transformers:
There are 33 units the organised sector manufacturing power and distribution transformers Transformers of 100 kVA capacity are mainly produced by small scale units. Most of the production comes from Mumbai, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam Calcutta and Sonipat. The production touched an all time high of 41.5 million kVA in 1994-95
Electric Motors:
India produces a wide range of electric motors to meet the requirement of industries tube wells, pumping sets and electric traction. Heavy motors are manufactured by government factories while small motors are made by private factories. Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore Calcutta, Rune, Patiala, Delhi, Coimbatore, etc. are the main centres of motor manufacturing. Production has increased from 0.1 million H.P. in 1950-51 to 6.6 million H.P. in 1995-96.
Cables and Wires:
Telephone cables, winding wires and bare copper and aluminium conductors are manufactured to meet requirements in different fields. Capacity for manufacturing optical fibre cables (OFC) has been created in India. Hindustan Cables, a Government of India undertaking and the Madhya Pradesh State Electronic Development Corporation have been permitted to establish capacities for manufacture of OFC to the extent of 40,000 and 20,000 fibre km. per annum respectively.
Light Electrical Goods Industry:
This industry covers a wide range of products which include white goods (refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, etc), household electrical appliances, electrical fans, storage batteries, dry cells, wiring accessories and fittings and electric lamps, etc.
Electric Fans:
India is one of the foremost producers of electric fans in the world. A complete range of electric fans such as ceiling fans, table fans, pedestal fans, exhaust fans, cooler fans, railway carriage fans, cabin fans and air circulators are being produced in different parts of the country. Mumbai, Calcutta, Secunderabad, Chennai, Delhi, etc. are the leading centres for production of electric fans.
Nitric Acid:
The production and use of nitric acid is associated with fertiliser plants and explosives. Trombay unit of Fertilizer Corporation of India as the main producer.
Electrical Lamps:
This industry was established in 1932 and has made tremendous progress, especially after Independence. The range of electric lamps includes mercury vapour lamps, automobile lamps, photoflash lamps, miniature lamps for torches and fluorescent tubes. The industry is receiving adequate encouragement from the Government. A number of foreign collaborations have already been approved for manufacture of energy efficient lamps.
Dry and Storage Batteries:
Established in 1926; this industry flourished well after the Second World War. Almost all types of dry and storage batteries are produced in the country. Storage batteries are required for automobile industry, train lighting, posts and telegraphs apparatus, power houses and for traction.
Radio Receivers:
This industry made a beginning in 1947 with a modest production of less than 4,000 sets. The main reason for this drastic fall in the production of radio receivers is attributed to the growing popularity of television sets. Industry concerning the manufacture of refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines etc. is of recent origin and are making good progress.