Case Study: India's Changing Industrial Structure
Geography: AQA GCSE, topic 5.1.14
India's Changing Industrial Structure
The rapid development that is happening in India is resulting in changes to their industrial structure.
Primary industry
- Like many LICs or NEEs, lots of India's population works in agriculture. Over half of workers work in primary industries (farming, mining etc).
- Fuels and oil are worth 14.9% of India's exports and minerals from mining make up 12.4% of India's exports.
- Although it employs over 50% of people, primary industries only create 12% of India's GNI.
Secondary industry
- Manufacturing (or secondary industries) account for 28% of India's GDP. Manufacturing is more 'labour-intensive' than software, which is good because it creates lots of jobs.
- Exporting manufactured products is better for development than exporting commodities (raw materials) and more of the value-added stays in the country.
- In 2018, vehicles made up 5.2% of India's exports and machinery made up 6.3% of India's exports.
Tertiary and quaternary industries
- Tertiary and quaternary sectors now account for 60% of Indian GDP, but they only created 22% of Indian jobs. This is because lots of these jobs are in software, which does not need as many workers as farming or mining.
- Infosys and Tata Consulting are two of India's largest software businesses and Byju's is one of India's largest 'start-ups'.
- Lots of Western businesses, like British Airways have outsourced their customer service and software development functions to India in recent years.
Test yourself on Case Study: India's Changing Industrial Structure
India's Industrial Structure
Why does a growing secondary industry stimulate economic development?
In India, which type of industry employs 50% of the workforce?
Which sector accounts for 60% of India's GNI?