Economy of South India

The Economy of South India is largely agrarian, dependent on monsoons, as are most people in India. Some of the main crops cultivated in South India include rice, sorghum, and ragi. South India was and still is the "promised land" as far as spice cultivation is concerned. Areca, coffee, pepper, tapioca, and cardamom are widely cultivated on the Nilgiri Hills and Kodagu. But frequent droughts in Northern Karnataka, Rayalaseema and Telangana regions are leaving farmers debt-ridden, forcing them to sell their livestock and sometimes even to suicides. Scarcity of water has been a major problem for past few years in these regions along with cities like Hyderabad.

Education is highly valued in the south Indian community, and is seen as a gateway to a better livelihood. Many of the nation's most prominent physicists and mathematicians have been South Indians. Kerala, while possessing a literacy rate above 98% also has the highest unemployment rates in India. The population growth rate of these states is also beginning to decline.

Information Technology is a growing field in South India. Bangalore is India's Information Technology hub, and is home to over 200 software companies. It is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of India. Four of the country's top seven exporters of software viz. Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Coimbatore are located in South India.

Chennai houses the automobile manufacturing giants in the country. More than 65% of heavy vehicles produced in the country, such as cars, buses, lorries, trains and bicycles, are produced in Chennai, and it is referred to as the Detroit of Asia. The manufacturing units of BMW, Flextronics, Motorola, Dell, TVS, Mitsubishi, Ford, Hyundai, Nokia and Saint Gobain are some of the international players in Chennai. Chennai ranks first in producing heavy vehicles. Hosur also has some of the vehicle manufacturing units and bio technology firms.

Coimbatore (also known as "Cotton City" and "Manchester of South India") in Tamil Nadu is the source of nearly 35% of India's cotton production. Erode and Tirupur are the largest producers of cotton vests and textiles in India; it exports much of its production to South East Asian and European countries. Erode is also known as the "Turmeric City", since it has the Asia's largest market for Turmeric. Gobichettipalayam is one of the largest producers of White silk with the country's first automatic silk reeling unit established here. Namakkal is one of the largest producers of poultry in the country.

Currently Guntur district port NizamPatnam is being built up to implement this plan; the Czech company Skoda is investing Rs 10,000 crore in the project.

Kerala is ranked as the best in Human Development Index and life standard of the people. The high standard of living of Kerala on a lower income level compared to western countries is known as "Kerala Phenomenon" or Kerala model of development by experts.

There is also a large amount of disparity within Southern India. As IT companies have entered the economic arena, their high level of pay has raised the economic standing of young and educated professionals, while the poor has become less and less able to afford basic necessities. It is not uncommon to see the shacks of homeless people propped up against the buildings of large multinationals. The poor, unable to afford sending their children to school, remain in a cycle of life completely separated from that of this more affluent upper class.