which river provides water to cotton mills of Mumbai.
Answers
This is one of the oldest industries. Till the industrial revolution in the 18th century, manual labour was used for making cotton cloths. After the industrial revolution, power looms replaced handlooms and it helped in expansion of cotton textiles industry. The expansion of cotton textiles industry first took place in Britain and then in other parts of the world.
At present; India, China, Japan and USA are the major producers of cotton textiles.
Indian cotton textiles were in great demand because of their fine quality and craftsmanship. The Muslins of Dhaka, Chintzes of Masulipatnam, Calicos of Calicut and Gold-wrought cotton Burhanpur, Surat and Vadodara were very popular around the world.
But after the industrial revolution in Britain, the Indian cotton textiles could not compete with machine made cloths from Britain.
The first successful cotton textile mill was set up in Mumbai in 1854. The warm and moist climate of Mumbai, proximity to port, availability of raw material and skilled labour helped in rapid expansion of this industry in the region.
During early years, the cotton textiles industry flourished in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Humid climate of these states favoured the processing of cotton. But later, this industry spread to other parts of the country as well because humidity can be artificially created. Other important centres of cotton textiles are; Coimbatore, Kanpur, Chennai, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Puducherry and Panipat.