Economy
Belgaum is the commercial hub and divisional headquarters of north Karnataka, standing second to Bangalore in terms of overall exports in the state (mainly automotive industry). Known as the "Bread Basket / Rice Bowl" of north Karnataka, it is an important location for vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, fish, wood (due to heavy rainfall, rivers and water abundance), mining production, trading in north Karnataka is mainly with Goa along with major cities like Pune, Bangalore. Rich deposits of Bauxite are found in Belgaum district, and have led to the creation of the (HINDALCO) Indian Aluminium Company Aditya Birla Group for production of aluminium. Additionally, uranium deposits have recently been found in Deshnur, a small village near Bailhongal town. Belgaum is a major producer of milk in the state, almost 1/3 or 30% of state's production and has the highest number of sugar factories; Belgaum, being home to Renuka Sugars and other enormous large scale sugar factories, is also known as Sugar Bowl of Karnataka.
From the early 1970s, Belgaum began developing as an important centre for the manufacture of heavy machine tools, including the manufacture of high pressure oil Hydraulics.
Its also a foundry hub of the Karnataka state having about 200 foundries producing more than 70000 tons of automotive and industrial castings of ferrous base and the supporting ancillaries like CNC and conventional machine shops which finish the castings that are produced in Belgaum.
Belgaum is one of the major textile centre in the State with over 50,000 powerlooms (including unregistered units). Almost entire areas of old Belgaum at Vadagaon, Khasbagh, Shahpur are engaged in business with power looms. Belgaum is known for what are known as “Belgaum saris” which are sold under different brand names. Over 30,000 people are directly dependent on the powerlooms. There are also ready-made garment units, including export oriented, besides those manufacturing Khadi cotton products.
Trade flourishes in Belgaum, and many areas of the city are dedicated to certain kinds of trade. For example, almost all automobile-related trade and manufacture happens in the Fort Road area of the city and Udyambag. The Raviwarpeth area is known as the wholesale market which sells commodities like grains, tea, etc.
Belgaum also is a strong industrial hub for machine shops catering to automotive manufacturing, Specially in Crankshaft machining and castings. The geographical location of the city is an advantage since it is situated right in between Bangalore and Mumbai–Pune to support the major automotive and aerospace companies.
A 300-acre (1.2 km2) Special Economic Zone is being set up along the Pune-Bangalore highway to cater to precision engineering requirements of the global aerospace, automotive and industrial verticals.
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