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Banking, Finance and Insurance |
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Banking The region
covered by the present district of Etawah had flourishing trade with the adjoining
regions, represented by the present district of Farrukhabad, Mainpuri, Agra, Gwalior and
Kanpur, since early times. Trade was huge when law and order prevailed and tended to
decrease sharply in chaotic conditions. Although there was a lack of means of
communications trade was carried on horses, ponies, and boats which sailed on the rivers
Yamuna and Chambal. Chambal was mostly used by the trader to cross over to Bhind and
Gwalior in the south of the district, while Yamuna was extensively used for trade with
Delhi and Agra in the west and Kalpi and Allahabad in the east. As far back as the fifth
and sixth centuries B.C. wealth was hoarded in brazen jars or in houses. Usury was frowned
upon even when indulged in by members of traditional high castes though the Vaishyas
charged more than the prescribed rates of interest. In the mediaeval period particularly
in the reign of Akbar and his two successors, trade was flourishing and the money was
available with the rich and affluent. Etawah being situated between Agra and Allahabad was
an important centre of trade for agricultural commodities, ghi and handloom cloth.
There was a government treasury at Etawah and a few sub
treasuries at important places like Phaphund and Auraiya. The treasuries served as
government banking institution for the collection of government dues, and for incurring
expenditure on behalf of the government. The British established their own treasury at
Etawah after 1801, on taking the administration of the district.
In the beginning of the twentieth century there were a
number of firms that advanced money. In large transactions, when valuables such as
jewellery were deposited with the lender as security, the rate of interest varied from 6
to 12 per cent per annum, according to the proportion that the value of the property
deposited bore to the sum advanced to the debtor. For loans advanced on personal security
only, the interest charged was higher, the average being 18 per cent per annum.
The Allahabad Bank was the first bank to establish a
branch at Etawah in 1921. In the following year the Etawah District Co-operative Bank Ltd.
was established at Etawah. In 1924 the State Bank of India (then known as Imperial Bank of
India) opened a branch at Etawah. The Punjab National Bank opened a branch at Etawah in
1949. Since 1969, the commercial banks have opened a number of branches in the district
and at present there are 13 branches of the Central Bank of India, 15 branches of the
State Bank of India and 2 branches, each of the Allahabad Bank and the Punjab National
Bank. The Etawah District Co-operative Bank Ltd. has 26 branches and the Uttar Pradesh
State Co-operative Land Development Bank Ltd. has 4 branches in the district.
Click Here to view the contact
details of different banks.
Life Insurance
The life insurance business was taken over by the Life
Insurance Corporation of India in 1956 and a branch office of the corporation was opened
at Etawah on August 15, 1958. The office is manned by two class I officers, 12 class II
officers and 23 others. |
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Trade And Commerce |
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In the last 35 years of the nineteenth century, the railway was the main
artery of communication. East Indian Railway was easily accessible to every portion of the
district. The chief exports were cotton, ghi, oil-seeds and imports-piece goods, metals,
rice salt and sugar. Even ghi and wheat from adjacent areas of Gwalior were diverted to
the railway stations in the district for export. The pattern of trade in the twentieth
century was the same export of ghi, cotton, and other agricultural goods and import of
cloth general merchandise, cotton-yarn and machinery. However by the thirties, the growing of cotton declined sharply and by
fifties there was no cultivation of cotton in the district. With the development of
roads, the pace of trade has increased and besides the railway a large number of trucks
operate in the district. The road to Bhind and Madhya Pradesh has been bridged and now
there is a continuous flow of goods and passenger traffic on his road. Ghi and food-grains
are the main commodities of trade. Ghi is transported to as far as Punjab in the west.
Bengal in the east and Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Bombay in south and south-west. Wheat
is the main food-grain which is transported to the adjoining districts from the wholesale
markets of the district.
The other important commodities of internal and external
trade are gram, paddy, pulses and oil-seeds. The production of handloom cloth has also
increased since 1972-73. Etawah and Jaswantnagar are the main trade centres of
handloom cloth. Fish is available in the rivers and lakes of the district in large
quantities. Fish is sent to Delhi, Bihar and Bengal.
In 1974, there were 1279 km. of metalled roads in the
district, which connect the various trade centres in the district and also link them with
the adjoining districts and states. There are 6 railway stations and the Northern Railway
runs for a total length of about 70 Km. in the district. The infrastructure of the
district thus adds to the increasing trade. Approximately 58,830 persons were employed in
trade and commerce in 1990. There were 537 licensed traders in the district in
1990-91 and about 260 commission agents also earned their livelihood from trade and
commerce. |
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Exports and Imports |
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Exports Food-grains, jaggery,
oil-seeds, ghi, fish and handloom cloth are the main items of export of the district. The
other items of export are Ayurvedic medicines, bones and skins and cotton-yarn. Peas and
pulses are exported to Madhya Pradesh, Bombay and Madras, rice and fish to Bihar and
bengal, wheat, oil-seeds, jaggery and paddy to Mainpuri, Kanpur, Lucknow and Agra, while
handloom cloth is mainly sent to Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow, bedspreads were exported to
the United States of America, Britain and Germany.
Ayurvedic medicines are exported to the adjoining
districts, skins to Kanpur and bones to Magarwara. The goods are carried by trucks or by
rail.
Imports
The main imports of the district are consumer goods,
medicines and drugs, cotton, diesel and mobil oil, spirit, petrol, mineral oils, machinery
and motor vehicles. They are generally transported to Etawah from Lucknow, Delhi, Kanpur,
Calcutta, Agra, Mirzapur and Varanasi.
Trade Centres
Etawah is the main assembling and distribution centre for
ghi, oil-seeds, paddy, grains, peas and arhar (a kind of pulse). It is the largest
regulated wholesale market (Mandi) for ghi and oil seeds in the district. Ghi is tested
and graded in a laboratory located in the mandi. Oil extracted from oil-seeds (mustard,
lahi etc.) is also sold in the mandi. The following statement gives the quantities of
oil-seeds and food-grains, that arrived in the market in 1995-96.
| Commodity |
Quantity (in Metric
Tonnes) |
| Oil-seeds |
43306.00 |
| Paddy |
165719.00 |
| Peas |
20826.00 |
| Arhar |
11689.00 |
| Wheat |
411214.00 |
| Gram |
12783.00 |
The other important wholesale markets of the district are
situated at Jaswantnagar, Bharthana- all being regulated markets. Bharthana Jaswantnagar
are important wholesale markets, which mainly deal in ghi and food-grains.
The requirement of the people residing in the rural areas
of the district are generally supplied by small local bazars, known as haats. The markets
are scattered all over the district. The dealers of the neighbouring villages exhibit
their wares in the markets, which are held twice or thrice a week. There are 687 major
markets in the district.
Warehousing Facilities
These facilities have not developed in tune with the
development of transport facilities and trade. About 190 warehouses are available
in the district, majority numbering 110 belong to the Warehousing Corporation Ltd.
The agriculture department of the U.P. government has 44 warehouses and the
co-operative department operates 36 warehouses in the district. Greater portion of
the agricultural commodities are stored in khattis, an indigenous arrangement for storing
grains in pits in the ground, the base and walls of the pit are covered by bhusa (straw)
as also its top.
Price Control and Rationing
The Second World War saw the increase in prices of all
commodities and in order to arrest their further rise, and to give relief to the
consumers, chiefly residing in the urban areas, the prices of a large number of
commodities were controlled and the supply of many of them to consumers was
rationed. The more important commodities were food-grains, cloth, matches, drugs and
petrol. Dealers in these commodities had to take licenses from government. Various schemes
for the rationing of food-grains chiefly wheat and its products, gram, rice, sugar and
kerosene oil have however persisted ever since, with varying spheres of applicability and
at present there are 1,215 fair-price shops in the district. Of these 85 are
located in the urban centres and the rest operate in the rural areas. Wheat, sugar and
rice are sold from these shops. Kerosene oil is distributed by 16 wholesale dealers
to 941 retail shops for sale.
Fairs
There are a large number of fairs, held in the district but few are of any commercial
importance. The majority are mere gatherings of people around some temple or shrine to
celebrate some festival of a purely religious character. However in a number of the fairs,
traders sell cloth, toys, footwear, utensils, sweetmeats and cattle. The largest of these
fairs known as Etawah cattle fair and exhibition better known as Etawah Mahotsava takes place in Etawah city in the month
of November every year. More than 1,00,000 persons assemble in each of these
fairs. Handloom cloth, ghi, utensils, plastic goods, sweetmeats, fruits and toys of
clay are sold in the fair besides several thousands heads of cattle. The Dasahra fair is
held in the month of October and the Muharram is held subject to the visibility of moon. |
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INDUSTRIES |
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The district has a good agricultural base and a reasonably good
infrastructure of various facilities, but the industrial base is weak, resulting in a low
income to the district. The lack of enterprise and technical knowledge in the local people
and the paucity of skilled labour are the major constraints for the industrial growth in
the district. The old time manufacturers of the district are few and insignificant. In the
nineteenth century the most flourishing industries were those connected with the cotton
trade which were run on European lines and were managed by European firms. There were
about ten cotton spinning mills in the district. Power
Electric power is available in the district from Northern
Power Grid of the State. The consumption of power is various sectors of the economy
in Etawah city in 1995-96 is given below.
| Sector |
Total consumption (in
thousand K.W.A.) |
| Industries |
27809 |
| Domestic |
38337 |
| Ccommercial |
9396 |
| Street light |
3174 |
| Agricultural / water works |
155904 |
| Other purposes |
3994 |
Rural Electrification
Till 1965-66, the rural areas were not electrified but in
1996-97, 1046 i.e 22 percent villages of the district were electrified.
Large Scale Industry
There is only one large-scale unit and it produces cotton
yarn. It is known as the U.P. Co-operative spinning Mills Ltd. Etawah. Established in 1958
and situated on Mainpuri road. it is spread over an area of 17.4 hectares. This unit
started production as late as 1961 with 12,320 spindles which increased to 25,064 in 1969.
The raw material consumed by the unit and mostly imported from Punjab, Rajasthan and
Haryana. It employed 1458 persons. The produced cotton yarn is consumed in local looms
besides being exported to different districts of U.P. This unit is managed on co-operative
lines by a board of 15 members, ten nominated by the State Government and five
representatives elected by the weavers. At present the unit has been closed due to some
financial problems.
Small-scale Industries
Oils, wheat flour, dal, rice, chemicals, engineering
goods, plastic goods, grass ware, electricals, leather goods, and textile and allied
products are produced in a large number of small-scale units, which are mainly located in
the urban areas. The investment and production of goods in small scale industries sector
have gone up and it appears that now the industries have become more capital-intensive.
The following statement gives comparative figures of
progress of small-scale industries in the district in 1998-99.
| Total No. of |
1998-99 |
| Units |
2653 |
| Persons Employed |
9850 |
Agro-based Industries
Oil from oilseeds, flour from wheat and pulses from
plants, are produced in 53 units, located mainly at Etawah. These units are either
operated by electricity or diesel oil.
Agricultural Implement
Agricultural implements, ploughs, crushers, buckets and
pans (for making jaggery) are produced in 46 units, majority of which are situated
in Etawah, Auraiya, Bharthana and Bakewar. The units are operated by electricity and use
iron as raw material.
Chemical and Allied Products
Candles, chalks, boot polish washing soap, ink, tooth
powder and Ayurvedic medicines are manufactured in 49 units in the district. These units
use wax, colour, glycerine, caustic soda, Caster oil, etc. as raw material.
Mechanical Engineering
In 1996-97 spare parts of machinery, rolling shutters,
steel almirahs, trollys, steel furnitures, etc. were produced in 206 units which are
mainly located at Etawah. General repairing work is also done by some of these units.
Plastic and rubber goods producing industries
Plastic badges, containers, ornament cases, droppers,
spectacles, frames, photo frames and other goods are manufactured in 3 units,
located at Etawah proper. These units use polythene, moulding powder and pigment dyestuff
as raw materials.
Glass and Ceramics
Optical lenses, and other crude glass articles, cement
jalies, pipes, etc. are manufactured in 14 units in the district. Sarai Shishgaran
is noted for brining out by boiling and melting reh and also for manufacture of bangles
and glass tumblers of mediocre quality. Glass, cement, iron, sand and allied articles are
used as raw material in these units.
Electrical Goods Industry
The manufacture of miniature bulbs and battery charging
is done by 2 units, located at Etawah. Filament, tungsten and resistance wires are
used as raw materials in this industry.
Food and Allied Products
Biscuits and other confectionary articles are produced in
two units, located at Etawah. Sugar, maida, suji and ghee are used as raw materials
in this industry.
Live-stock-based Industries
Shoes, chappals, suitcases etc. are manufactured in 15
units, in the district. Leather, wax and other allied goods are used as raw materials in
these industries.
Textile-based Industries
Bed-sheets, lungees, curtains and dhotis are manufactured
in 20 units, scattered throughout the district. Yarn is used as raw material in this
industry which is available in the district.
Other Industries
Building material, printing. card board boxes, ready made
garments, ice candy and bricks are produced in 54 units, scattered throughout the
district. |
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Web Design & Management
for this web site :
NIC
District Centre, Etawah (UP)
Contact the webmaster for any
maintenance issues, information or suggestions
regarding this web site. |
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