Madurai - Economy

Economy

Madurai traditionally was an agrarian society with paddy as the main crop. Cotton crop cultivation in the regions with black soil in Madurai district was introduced during the Nayaka rule during the 16th century to increase the revenue from agriculture. The paddy fields cultivated in the Vaigai delta across Madurai North, Melur, Nilakottai and Uthamapalayam are known as "double-crop paddy belts". Farmers in the district supplement their income with subsidiary occupations like dairy farming, poultry-farming, pottery, brick making, mat-weaving and carpentary. Madurai is famed for its jasmine plantation, called "Madurai Malli", primarily carried out at the foothills of Kodaikanal hills and traded at the Madurai morning flower market. An average of 2,000 farmers sell flowers daily at the flower market.

With the advent of Small Scale Industries (SSI) after 1991, the industrialization of Madurai developed employment in the sector across the district from 63,271 in 1992–93 to 166,121 persons in 2001–02. By the latter point, 28 per cent of the SSIs were textile-based, 22.9 per cent were building-based, 18.1 per cent were food-based and 10.4 per cent were electric-based.

Madurai is one of the few rubber growing areas in South India and there are rubber based industries in Madurai. Gloves, sports goods, mats, other utility products and automobile rubber components are the most numerous items produced produced by these industries. TVS Srichakra (tyre manufacturing), Sundaram Industries (Rubber Division, Coach division), Fenner India, Hi-Tech Arai Ltd and Lanxess India are some of the rubber based industries in the city. Automobile producers like General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Honda are the major consumers of components produced in the city. The city is home to one of the top motor cycle manufacturers in India, the TVS Group. There are numerous textile, granite and chemical industries operating in Madurai.

Madurai is promoted as a second-tier city for IT and some software companies like Honeywell Technology Solutions have opened their centres in Madurai. Software Technology Parks of India, an agency of the Government of India, has authorized several such companies to receive benefits under its national information technology development program. The state government proposed two IT based Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in Madurai and these have been fully occupied by various IT companies.