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Growth of Glass and Glass Industries in India!
Indians are known to have acquired the knowledge of making glass since time immemorial. Glass industry came into being in India in 16th century when items like bangles, small bottles and flasks were made. By 17th century, enamalled glass was produced at a number of places in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
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Although glass industry on modern lines was started in the 19th century, the real growth started only after 1932. The first successful organised glass factory was set up in 1941. The industry underwent large scale modernisation after Independence. At present, India is a major producer of glass and glass products.
1. Localisation:
Glass industry requires a large number of raw materials. The most important raw material is silica sand which constitutes 75 per cent of the basic materials. This is a bulky material and cannot bear high transportation cost. Obviously the availability of silica sand influences the localisation of glass industry. The other raw materials used for manufacturing glass are soda ash, feldspar, limestone, dolomite, manganese dioxide, barium oxide, sulphur and copper.
These raw materials affect the localisation of glass industry to some extent in their own way. All these raw materials except soda ash are abundantly available in the country. Sufficient supply of coal at cheap rates also influences this industry. But glass is a fragile commodity and easily breaks during transit. Therefore, this industry tends to be located near the market.
2. Distribution:
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Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are the main glass producing states and contribute the bulk of production.
A. Uttar Pradesh:
Firozabad in Agra district is the largest producer having as many as 100 small factories. The other major centres of glass production are Bahjoi, Naini, Hiranagau, Shikohabad, Hathras, Sasni, Allahabad and Jaunpur. Uttar Pradesh has the advantage of locally available raw materials and a ready market for glass and glass products.
Skilled glass workers known as shisgars of Firozabad have been engaged in the process of glass making for several generations and provide cheap and skilled labour for this purpose. Only coal has to be transported from Jharkhand and West Bengal.
B. West Bengal:
The state has 34 factories located at different places like Kolkata, Haora, Raniganj, Belgachiya, Belgharia, Belur, Sitarampur, Rishra, Durgapur and Asansol. Pure sand of high quality is available from the white Damudas sandstones at Mangalhat and Patharghata. Sand is also obtained from Bargarh and Lohagra near Allahabad. Good quality coal is obtained from the nearby coalfields at Jharia and Raniganj. Good market is readily available in the Hugli industrial region.
C. Maharashtra:
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The state has 22 factories. Main centres of galss industry are Mumbai, Talegaon (Pune), Satara, Nagpur and Kolhapur. The industry specializes in bottles, shells, flasks, lampware, beakers and sheet glass.
The other producers are Gujarat (Bharuch, Vadodara, Morvi and Panchmahal), Tamil Nadu (Salem, Chennai, Coimbatore), Bihar (Kandra, Bhawaninagar, Patna), Jharkhand (Jamshedpur, Kahalgaon), Rajasthan (Dhaulpur and Jaipur), Haryana (Ambala and Faridabad), Andhra Pradesh (Warrangal and Hyderabad), Delhi (Shahdara), Punjab (Amritsar), Kerala (Alwaye), Orissa (Barang, Cuttack), Madhya Pradesh (Jabalpur, Gondia), Assam (Guwahati) and Karnataka (Bangalore).
