The Third Conference: GIS-based Global History from Asian Perspectives Day2: 5th June, 2015

Growth of Industrial Cities in India: A Case Study of Jamshedpur

Amaresh Dubey1
1Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
Abstract: This paper seeks to examine the development and growth of Industrial cities in India
using well-known industrial city Jamshedpur as a case study. Jamshedpur got recorded as an
urban area in the Indian Census for the first time in 1911 with a population settlement of 5,
672 with establishment of a steel production unit in Sakchi in 1907. Jamshedpur town grew
rapidly in size and has population over 677 thousand in 2011. While during the first fifty
years, Jamshedpur experienced rapid growth but growth during the later part has been driven
by growth of towns around Jamshedpur creating a vibrant urban agglomeration of 1.3 million
in 2011. It is observed that despite being home of the oldest steel factory in India and
recording creation of urban agglomeration of its own size, growth of Jamshedpur and it
agglomeration has lacked the growth and development observed around other similar
industrial towns in western and southern India. This may be due to a general regional
sluggishness in the investment in the eastern region that has been marred by troubled
industrial relation in the surrounding areas.
Keywords: Jamshedpur, industry, growth, agglomeration.

of industrial units closer to the raw material availability. In India

1. Introduction
too, there were several cities that had emerged for a long
Settlement of population since ancient times has attracted duration as the places of governance, trade, religion and the like.
attention of scholars. Historically, major concern has been the But the development of railways in the 19th century started
size of the city from where the polity could have good settlement of population at newer places like Jamshedpur.
governance (Mutlu, 1989). In modern times, the concern about
Jamshedpur is one such town that was established in the
cities is because of the size of the city that allows for economic
beginning of the 20th century as home of the first privately
efficiency and some degree of social equity (Mutlu, 1989).
owned steel factory in India at Sakchi in Singhbhum district.
Drastic transformations in the state of knowledge and
Subsequently, the town has got its name after the founder of the
technology in the eighteenth and nineteenth century changed the
steel production unit, Sir Jamshedji Tata a little after the
production structure and processes (Dubey and Desai, 2014).
production unit became functional (Dutta, 1977). During the
These technological innovations required the setting up of the
contemporary times, Jamshedpur is regarded as the industrial
production processes in relatively smaller spaces. This process
hub of the eastern region having a large number of sister
in technical terms is known as substitution of labour and capital
concerns of TATA group of industries. In this paper, we
for space (Dubey, 1991). This process of substitution brought
investigate the growth of Jamshedpur as the major industrial city
together settlement of population to work on the newly
in contemporary India.
emerging production processes that later on came to be
recognized as industrial settlement giving rise to new type of There are several studies that have investigated land use
urban settlement that has not been observed earlier. The primary planning of Jamshedpur, e.g. Sinha and Singh. (2013). Kumar
driving force for such settlements is said to be significant (2004) and Dutta (1977) is a comprehensive study of land use
productivity gains to factors of production (Sviekauskas, 1976). and population settlement from initial stage of development of
These significant productivity gains, dependent on the size of Jamshedpur to the early 1970s. Studies by Singh (1993)
the settlement of population are also associated with rising compares the performance of steel industry in Jamshedpur and
labour incomes resulting in better living standards for the Rourkela while another study Chand (1990) examines the labour
households (Nath, 1994; Dubey et al, 2001; Dubey and relations in the historical context. Clearly, there is scope to look
Mahadevia, 2001). at the evolution of Jamshedpur as one of the important industrial
cities in India during the last one hundred years.
In many cases, these production processes were located at the
existing sites having established port network, e.g. Manchester 2. Growth of Jamshedpur
city in Britain. Further development of surface transport
As pointed out above, as an industrial city, Jamshedpur is
network with the development of railways facilitated settlement

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 The Third Conference: GIS-based Global History from Asian Perspectives Day2: 5th June, 2015

located in one of the major industrial regions of India, the 3. Population and Area
eastern region (Chhota Nagpur Plateau) (see Map 1).
Starting with a small village of Sakshi in 1907 and initial
Map 1: Industrial Regions in India population of 5,672, Jamshedpur is a large urban agglomeration
with population of 13,47,595 comprising of three municipalities
break-up of Jamshedpur and its constituents are given in table 1
below.

Like other urban areas and agglomerations in India, total

workers within the Jamshedpur Urban Agglomeration are under
31% with very little variation in WPR across the NACs, CTs
and OGs. Change in the population size of Jamshedpur since
1911 census is reported in figure 1. In the initial stages,
population of Jamshedpur grew rapidly, recording decadal
growth of 40% or more--- in fact within a decade, from 1911 to
1921, population of Jamshedpur grew nine time (911.3%).
Thereafter, growth has been 46%, 77.6%, 46.7% and 39.1%
between 1921 to 1931, 1931 to 1941, 1941 to 1951 and 1951 to
1961, respectively.

As apparent from figure 1 and 2, the rate of population

growth of Jamshedpur NAC slowed down considerably after
1961. However, the effect of Jamshedpur has been felt on the
surrounding areas as several census towns emerged around
Jamshedpur expanding area of the Jamshedpur Urban
Agglomeration (JUA). As apparent from table 2, the
deceleration of population growth in Jamshedpur and Jugsalai is
somewhat compensated by that of the population growth among
the almost all of the census towns and about ten census towns
around it. The detailed population

However, one of the important features of the population

growth of Jamshedpur and its three important UAs shown in the
figure above is that the population growth has stagnated in the
older settlements. This is somewhat similar to the trend
observed in India and Bihar (Jamshedpur has been part of
Singhbhum district in Bihar before the formation of Jharkhand
in 2001). What is surprising in the observed growth of
population in JUA is that it has slowed down during the period
when there is marked change in the Indian policy regime for
encouraging industrial investment.

Historically, along with the development of Jute industry in the A possible explanation of relative slow down is the overall
eastern region, Tata steel industry in Jamshedpur made the sluggishness in the investment in the eastern Region itself. Since
eastern region among the most industrially advanced regions. the eastern region has been struggling with various kinds of
industrial disputes that has resulted in not only new investments
Jamshedpur has been well researched in settlement geography going to Western and Southern regions but also reported flight
and land use pattern. Jamshedpur is also known for its city of capital and investment from Eastern Region to the other
management structure as large part of the Jamshedpur city is regions. This could be seen from the stagnation of population in
governed by the Tata group that manages the provision for basic and around Kolkata Urban Agglomeration that has been less
than 10% in recent decades.
urban services in Jamshedpur.

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 The Third Conference: GIS-based Global History from Asian Perspectives Day2: 5th June, 2015

Table 1: Jamshedpur Urban Agglomeration in 2011

Name TOT_P TOT_WORK_P WPR %Cult %Alab %HH %OT

Mango (NAC) 223805 64039 28.6 0.4 0.7 1.5 97.4
Jamshedpur (NAC + OG) 677350 211538 31.2 0.2 0.6 2.0 97.2
Jugsalai (M) 49660 14729 29.7 0.3 0.4 3.8 95.6
Bagbera (CT) 78356 24630 31.4 0.5 0.9 1.7 96.9
Haludbani (CT) 25360 8117 32.0 0.4 0.7 1.8 97.1
Sarjamda (CT) 23788 7411 31.2 0.2 1.3 1.5 97.0
Gadhra (CT) 18801 5716 30.4 0.9 1.1 2.1 96.0
Chhota Gobindpur (CT) 31843 8928 28.0 0.3 1.1 1.9 96.8
Ghorabandha (CT) 20718 6127 29.6 0.4 0.3 1.6 97.7
Purihasa (CT) 7897 2454 31.1 0.1 5.7 1.4 92.8
Adityapur (NP) 174355 53457 30.7 1.0 1.5 1.9 95.6
Kandra (CT) 8157 2612 32.0 1.6 1.0 3.0 94.4
Chota Gamahria (CT) 7505 2214 29.5 0.1 0.4 2.7 96.8
Jamshedpur UA 1347595 411972 30.6 0.4 0.8 2.0 96.9

Source: Census of India, 2011.

Figure 1: Population of Jamshedpur NAC and OG since 1911

Figure 2: Decadal Population growth of towns around Jamshedpur

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 The Third Conference: GIS-based Global History from Asian Perspectives Day2: 5th June, 2015

Table 2: Decadal population growth of Constituent towns of JUA

Town_Name STATUS GR_61_71 GR_71_81 GR_81_91 POP_2001 GR_91_2001 POP_2011 GR_01_2011

Adityapur NP 89.26 45.64 119,233 53.25 174355 46.23
Mango NAC 60.66 166,125 53.68 223805 34.72
Jamshedpur NAC 17.55 28.11 4.79 612,534 27.89 677350 10.58
Jugsalai M 11.56 24.69 13.20 46,114 19.40 49660 7.69
Bagbera CT 52.25 33.55 67,121 17.68 78356 16.74
Haludabni CT 0.00 19,929 34.38 25360 27.25
Sarjamda CT 0.00 18,385 77.84 23788 29.39
Gadhra CT 39.27 15,767 8.09 18801 19.24
Chhota Gobindpur CT 29.25 24,781 27.95 31843 28.50
Ghorabandha CT 0.00 14,724 54.45 20718 40.71
Purihasa (CT) CT 7897
Kandra (CT) CT 8157
Chota Gamahria (CT) CT 7505
Source: As in Table 1

Table 3: Growth of the urban population in India and Bihar (1901-2011)

India Bihar India Bihar India Bihar India Bihar
Census
Urban Population in % Urban to Total Decadal Gr Rate of
Year
No of Towns Million Population Urban Population
1901 1834 44 25.6 0.9 11.0 4.01 - -
1911 1776 43 25.6 0.9 10.4 3.80 0.0 0.6
1921 1920 46 27.7 0.9 11.3 4.15 0.79 0.0
1931 2049 47 33 1.0 12.2 4.54 1.77 1.9
1941 2210 52 43.6 1.3 14.1 5.41 2.82 2.3
1951 2044 67 61.6 1.8 17.6 6.70 3.52 3.3
1961 2330 85 77.6 2.5 18.3 8.43 2.34 3.9
1971 2297 97 107 3.3 20.2 7.97 3.26 2.9
1981 3245 114 156 5.1 23.7 9.84 3.86 5.5
1991 3609 127 224 6.7 25.7 10.40 3.64 3.0
2001 5161 130 286 8.6 27.8 10.46 3.15 3.3
2011 7935 199 377 11.7 31.2 11.30 3.18 3.5

decline because of growing number of industrial disputes. This

4. Discussion and conclusions is perhaps triggered flight of capital from the eastern region in
The preliminary investigation of growth of Jamshedpur as an general affecting the investment climate in the region as a whole.
industrial town in India suggest that since the inception of Tata Despite the industrialisation friendly policy regime that India
Steel industry in 1907, there has been several fold increase in has been following for last three decades or so, eastern region in
the economic activities in Jamshedpur by the Tata Group in general and Jamshedpur in particular could not attract newer
recent decades. This expansion of economic activities has investment resulting in the stagnation in its growth. This
generated substantial economies of scale and stimulated sluggishness in investment has been making southern and
settlement of a large number of institutions in and around western region as important industrial region (see Map 1 above
Jamshedpur. But it is surprising to note that somewhat limited for the location).
number of other industrial firms from other groups is located in
and around Jamshedpur. As pointed out earlier, one possible References
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city agglomeration in the region, Kolkata UA has been on the Nehru University, New Delhi.

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 The Third Conference: GIS-based Global History from Asian Perspectives Day2: 5th June, 2015

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