India's top manufacturing hub

Tamil Nadu continues to be India’s top manufacturing hub with the number of factories in the state increasing by 33% between 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.
According to a study recently released by the Union ministry of statistics and implementation, the state’s 31,749 factories accounted for 17.4% of the 2,11,660 factories across India at the end of 2011. Maharashtra was in second place with 27,939 units (13.2%), followed by Andhra Pradesh (12.4%) and Gujarat (10.1%). TN had topped the list in 2008-09 too, when the survey was last conducted, with 26,122 factories to Maharashtra’s 20,450.
Tamil Nadu also has more people employed in factories, which, for purposes of the study, were defined as labour intensive industrial units manufacturing products and governed by the Factories Act, 1948. The state employs nearly 15.4% of the country’s total factory workforce.
In terms of emoluments, however, Tamil Nadu is second to Maharashtra, a pointer to the low cost of sustaining a manufacturing business in the state — a key reason that it is among the most preferred investment destinations.
Maharashtra factories are the best paymasters, with 19.2% of the total factory emoluments going to its workers. Tamil Nadu is in second place (13.1%), followed by Gujarat (10.6%) and Andhra Pradesh (7.7%). The study shows that a large majority of the country’s factories manufacture food products. Around 16.1% of all factories make food products, 11% are in the non-metallic segment and 8% in textiles.
Of the total payments disbursed to factory workers in India, basic metal units accounted for 11.2%, followed by machinery and equipment (8.3%), motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (8%), food products (7.7%) and textiles (7.6%).