Ceramics Industry: Paragraph on Ceramics Industry in India!
It is a very old industry and dates back to about 5000 years B.C.
The excavations of Harappa and Mohen-jo-Daro have revealed that a wide variety of pottery goods and ceramics of different designs and colours was used when the Indus Valley civilisation was at its peak.
The beginning of modern ceramics industry is associated with the discovery of deposits of china clay in Rajmahal hills in Jharkhand. The first ceramic factory was established at Patharghatta in 1860. In the same year, Bum and Co. set up a factory at Raniganj in West Bengal and the production of glazed tiles commenced.
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Further discoveries of china clay in different parts of the country added new dimensions to ceramic industry and a number of factories came up in West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala. World War II gave further impetus to this industry because metallic utensils could not be made due to ban on the import of metals. The industry has made rapid strides in the post- Independence era.
Today, ceramic industry produces a wide range of products, the outstanding being sanitary wares, porcelain wares, stoneware, enamel ware, tiles, crockery, insulators, etc. These products are used for a variety of purposes such as generation and transmission of power, construction of modem buildings, engineering, electronics, etc.
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At present, there are above 150 units in the organised sector manufacturing different items. The important centres are Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Wankaner, Thanagarh, Ranipet, Rupnarainpur, Jabalpur, Nazarbagh, Gwalior, Jaipur, etc.
Indian ceramic products are some of the best so far as their quality, shape, design and colour are concerned and are easily accepted in the international market. The main buyers of Indian ceramic goods are Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Sudan, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, etc. India also imports ceramic products from some Asian and European countries like China, Japan, U.K., Germany, the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Slovakia.