CONTENTS…

S.No Contents Pg.No

1 Introduction 2

2 Vellore 2

3 History of Vellore 3

4 Geography & Topography 4

5 Demography 5

6 Major Economic Activities ( Sector- 7

wise)

7 Major Economic activity of Vellore 9

8 Special Schemes 11

9 Economic Strengths and Weaknesses 11

10 Conclusion 12

11 References 13

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Introduction

Economic Activities are those activities undertaken by a person with an aim

to earn money in return. The four essential economic activities are Resource
management, Production of goods and services, Distribution of goods and services
and consumption of goods and services.

The Three-sector model divides economics into sectors of activities i.e.,

Extraction of Raw materials ( Primary ), Manufacturing ( Secondary ), Service
sector ( Tertiary ) out of which Service sector holds majority of share in India’s
GDP.

This project includes a brief summary of History, Topography and

Demography of Vellore City and the major economic activities, special schemes,
economic strengths and weaknesses and area of concern of the district economy.

Vellore

Vellore is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks
of the Palar River in the northeastern part of Tamil Nadu covering an area of
87.915 km2. The district came to functioning on 30th September 1987 and it was
formerly known as North Arcot District. It is considered one of South India’s
oldest cities and known for its rich historic legacy.

The Vellore region is the largest exporter of finished leather goods in the
country. Leather exports from Vellore account for more than 37% of India's leather
exports and leather-related products. Vellore is also one among the 27 cities chosen
by the Government of India in 3rd round to take part in the country's Smart Cities
Mission. Vellore is also known as the Second Madras because of its importance
and location relative to Chennai.

The Central prison in Vellore, established in 1830, had imprisoned notable

figures like C.Rajagopalachari ( First Indian-born governor, First recipients of
Bharat Ratna ) and Ramaswamy Venkataraman ( 8th President of India )

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History of Vellore

The recorded history of Vellore dates back to the ninth century, as seen from
Chola inscriptions. Vellore is strategically located and well-connected to major
towns in the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. Many
dynasties and rulers dominated Vellore throughout its history, including the
Pallavas, Cholas, Vijayanagar, Rashtrakutas, Sambuvaraya chieftains, the Nawabs,
and the administration of the British.

Vellore Fort is important to Vellore's history. The fort is a good example of

Tamil Nadu military architecture, while the Jalakandeswarar Temple within the
fort represents Vijayanagara architecture.

The Vellore Fort

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Geography & Topography

Vellore is at 12.92°N 79.13°E, 220m above sea level. The city has a semi-
arid climate. It is 135 km (84 mi) west of the state capital Chennai. Vellore lies in
the Eastern Ghats region and Palar river basin. The topography is almost flat with
slope from west to east. The major hill ranges in the district are those belonging to
Jawadu, Yelagiri and Kalrayan.

Vellore is in a tropical savanna climate The temperature ranges from 13 °C

(55 °F) to 39.4 °C (102.9 °F). Vellore receives 1,034.1 mm (40.71 in) of rainfall
every year.

Utilisation of Land

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Demography

Demography of Vellore

The Human Development Index of Vellore is 0.742 which comes under the list of
High Human Development. It ranks 11th in terms of HDI in Tamil Nadu.

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Occupation Profile Census

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Major Economic Activities ( Sector-Wise )

The major sector which contributes to the economy of Vellore is

Manufacturing sector such as Tanneries and Leather manufacturing Industries,
Automobiles manufacturing industries, Electricals and few other sectors like
Agriculture, Small Scale Industries, Tourism and Information Technology. It has
ample professional medical and technological colleges and has immense
manpower.

Major Economic activities from each sector are;

Primary Sector

 Vellore ranks 7th place in terms of area in Tamil Nadu. The net cultivated
area of Vellore is 1.74 Lakhs Hectare. It has a lot of people engaged in
agriculture. Vellore has a Soil Testing Laboratory since 1966, Pesticide
Testing Laboratory since 2009, a Liquid Bio-fertilizer production unit under
NADP scheme since 2017, 7 Seed processing units, Farmers Training
Center, 300 Farmers discussion group conveners and agriculture technology
management agency since 2005-06 to enhance agriculture.

 Animal Husbandry is also done along with agriculture. The district has
556632 cattles, 16103 buffaloes,324052 goats and 383272 sheep. Sericulture

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 is also undertaken by 1680 silk farmers. They cultivate mulberry in 3148
acres. During 2018-19 the production of cocoon was 781052 Tonnes.

 Vellore has no marine fishing. 2008 families in Vellore are involved in

fisheries. In the year 2017-18 the total quantity of inland fish products were
1453.35 Metric Tonnes which was worth 1744.02 Lakhs.

Secondary Sector

 Manufacturing sector is the major sector which contributes to the economy

of Vellore. The tanneries and leather industries followed by electrical and
automobile industries contribute a major share to the economy. There are
more than 250 medium scale industries in Vellore. Most of them are
confined to leather, textiles, chemical and sugar.

 Small Scale Industries provide huge job opportunities to the rural

population. The women are self empowered by creating Self Help Groups
and engaging themselves in Small Scale Industries such as Weaving, Match
stick productions, potteries, and Handicrafts. Handicrafts has also been an
important part of economy of Vellore. Tamil Nadu Small Industries
Development Corporation (SIDCO), an undertaking of Government of
Tamil Nadu was formed in 1972 to develop Tamil Nadu’s industrial estates.
There are 5 SIDCO installations in Vellore region.

Service Sector

 Vellore has a visible presence of service industries like Hospitals, Industrial

consultancies, Educational institutions, Restaurants, Industrial testing labs,
BPOs, Marketing Consultancies and so on.

 Vellore is also well known for its tourist destinations. It welcomes a lot of
tourists for medical, Heritage, Pilgrimage and Educational tourism. Vellore
provides cheap and quality tertiary medical care. It has witnessed the largest
number of medical tourism in India. Vellore had 27,36,106 domestic
tourists and 58,960 foreign tourists in the year 2018.

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 The main aim of Vellore smart city proposal includes promotion of medical,
educational and heritage tourism in Vellore. It has major tourist destinations
like the historic Vellore Fort which was built around 16th century,
multipurpose museum with 8 galleries and 2896 exhibits, Zoological parks,
Science parks, Golden Temple, The Yelagiri Hills and so on.

 Information Technology is a growing sector in Vellore. Proximity to

Bangalore and Chennai has led to Information Technology taking roots in
educational institutions, e-governance and so on. Many IT based industries,
BPOs, Microsoft Innovation Centers are boosting Vellore’s Economy. It
also has Vellore Association of Information Technology (VAIT) in order to
encourage after sales support, conducting exhibitions and seminar. It also
organizes ‘The Great Vellore Bazaar’ fair in October to showcase modern
technological development in various fields. There is also an upcoming
project to create IT SEZ (Information Technology Special Economic Zone).
Vellore Tidel Park has been proposed in the Tamil Nadu Budget 2021 by the
State Government in order to introduce small IT hubs all over the State to
promote youth employment.

Major Economic Activity of Vellore

The major economic activity in Vellore is Manufacturing especially,

Tanneries and leather. 40% of Country’s leather production is from Tamil Nadu
out of which Vellore alone contributes to 37% of total leather exports of India.
According to report from Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation there
were 41 new industries proposals in Vellore during 2017-19.

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 From the above table it is clearly understood that the manufacturing sector
contributes majority of its share to the GDP. The leather manufacturing sector
provides major employment to the people. The well connected roadways, railways
and the Golden Quadrilateral boosts the industrial growth. Vellore is the leading
exporter of finished goods like finished leather products, shoes, garments, gloves
etc.,

The explosives manufacturing industry in Vellore, Tamil Nadu Explosives

Limited (TEL) is the biggest Explosives manufacturing factory in the whole Asia.
Today there are huge industries like Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL),
Chemical plants in SIPCOT Special Economic Zones, Sanitary Ware
Manufacturers, Boiler Auxiliaries of BHEL, EID Parry, Handlooms and
Powerlooms. The Brownfield Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) was
approved in 2014, making Vellore the first Region in Tamil Nadu to develop such
a Cluster. It is also a hub for automobile Industries like Mitsubishi, TVS brakes,
MRF, Ashok Leyland and many others.

The Government of Tamil Nadu provides all possible investment subsidies

and infrastructural support in form of setting up industrial estates and common
effluent treatment plant. The district provides enough scope for the development

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and growth of industries engaged in chemicals, food processing, synthetic fibers,
Textiles and steel castings.

There were 2074 factories during 2017, out of which 741 was in operation.

Special schemes

 The Government of Tamil Nadu has initiated some special schemes to

develop the Economy of Vellore. The Government has proposed Vellore
Tidel Park (Information Technology Hub) to boost IT sector in Vellore.
There is also an upcoming project to create IT Special Economic Zones in
Vellore.

 Vellore has been listed one among 27 districts in 3rd round of Smart Cities
Mission. Vellore smart city proposal combines three visions;

1) Becoming a Swachh City

2) A city with improved, responsive and inclusive service delivery
3) To be a city that promotes medical, educational and heritage
tourism.

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  Tamil Nadu Village Habitations Improvement Scheme was introduced by
State Government during 2011-15 to improve and modernize Irrigation
Tanks and Water Supply which enhanced Agricultural production.

 In order to improve Agricultural Marketing and reduce Intermediates

between Farmers and Consumers, the State Government has Introduced
Uzhavar Sandies where farmers join together to sell their products at
reasonable price. There are 9 Uzhavar Sandies in Vellore.

Economic Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

 A merit that boosts the district economy is wide connectivity with

neighboring states and major cities via roadways and railways.

 Infrastructural facilities – Farms, Laboratories, Research institutions,

Training centers, consultancies, Marketing Facilities, Standard Industries
and Professional institutions help in Economic growth of the district.

 The development of industrial parks, growth centers and Special economic

zones along with Special Schemes and Incentives provided to the industries
and small scale workers enhance production in Manufacturing Sector.

Weaknesses

 The schemes provided by Government has not been utilized to the optimum.
Hence there is no much awareness among farmers and rural workers on the
schemes and facilities provided by government .

 Lack of investment in increasing the number of institutions and industrial

capacity.

 Lack of alternative power and electrical sources has said to be a drawback

for manufacturing industries.

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  The average size of landholdings is 0.65 hectare. Hence those small
landholdings act as a hindrance for mechanized agriculture.

Conclusion

Vellore has a diverse economy based on leather, Auto mobile, Precise tools,
Electricals, Explosives and service sector. On the other hand Agriculture is a prime
driving force for food security and rural economic development of farmers.

Agriculture along with its allied sectors like animal husbandry and horticulture is
the largest livelihood for rural population. Vellore is developing in all the sectors,
mainly focused on manufacturing and tertiary sector.

Contributions from government to improve the number of MSMEs along with

incentives would help in economic development as well employment generation in
rural areas.

The booming Information Technology sector would turn a major economic activity
due to its infrastructural facilities, presence of vital IT industries an its location
near to cities like Bangalore and Chennai.

References

 District Statistical Handbook (2017-18)

 Diagnostic Study Report, Dept of MSME (2019)
 District Survey Report, Dept of Geology and Mining
 District Human Development Report 2017, State Planning Commission
 tn.gov.in/deptst/stat.htm
 en.m.wikipedia.org
 vellore.nic.in

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