Sectoral Composition and Contribution

The Growth rate of GSDP of Chandigarh over the five year period 2003-2008 has risen from 14.97% in 2003-04 to 17.5% in the 2007-08. During the year 2004-05 tertiary sector contributed nearly 77.14% of the GSDP of the Union Territory followed by Secondary sector at 22.39% and primary sector at 0.47%. The majority of the population are employees of any one of the three government based in the city. Trade, Hotels & restaurants was the chief contributor to the GSDP at 29.85 % of GDP followed by Real estate, ownership of dwelling & business services at 21.39%, construction industry 13.26%, Banking & finance at 10.6 % and Un registered manufacturing at 6.21 % to the GSDP. Public administration and other services jointly contributed another 12.28 % to the Chandigarh''''''''s GSDP.

Sectoral Analysis

Trends in Primary Sector:  The UT of Chandigarh produces around 2800 tons of wheat, 250 tons of paddy and around 40 tons of maize every year. The total area under cereals has significantly risen from 740 acres in 2004-05 to 3090 acres in 2006-07.

Growth Trends in Secondary Sector: In the secondary sector unregistered manufacturing after construction is one of the major contributors to the GSDP of the union territory. The unregistered manufacturing industry contributed 6.21% of GSDP in the year 2007-08. The growth rate has been particularly impressive over the years 2004-05 when it grew by 30.75 % Registered manufacturing sector on the other hand grew at the same pace over the same two year period, but its contribution to GSDP over the five year period of 2000-05 remained stable at 2.56% of GSDP.

Construction industry remained a major contributor during this five year period contributing on an average of 13% to the GSDP and 13.26% during the year 2007-2008. Electricity, Gas & Power supply contributed only 1.18 % of the GSDP though it grew by 15.39 % during the five year period.

Growth Trends in Tertiary Sector: Trading, Hotels & Restaurants and Banking & real estate are among fastest growing industries in Chandigarh, contributing 27.85% & 21.1 % to GSDP respectively, over the five year period 2004-08. Moreover their contribution was 29.85% and 21.39% respectively during 2007-08.

Public administration & other services also remained important contributors at 6.16% and 6.11% respectively during the period 2007-08. In view of the rapidly increasing activities of service sector the administration of Chandigarh is emphasising on the knowledge sector especially in the fields of financial services, IT Services, Insurance Services, Hospitality, Health and Education services. Chandigarh is fast becoming one of the most preferred destinations for technology companies, in the country, especially since it boasts of an excellent quality of life, and a large base of Human Resources and proactive policies of the Administration which are conducive to such investment.

Industry in Chandigarh

There were 2100 SSI units in the year 2007-08. There are 15 Large & Medium Scale industries along with two Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs), five functional Export Oriented Units

Some of the important industrial products are hosiery and knitting machine needles, wool tops, engineering items, electric meters, auto parts, tyre & tubes, crockery, bicycle and cycle parts, house fitting items, electronic items, cables, toiletries, wires, defence items, antibiotics, biomedical equipments, food and beverage, and hardware.

Major Industries

Manufacturing & Engineering: There are a large number of units manufacturing Agricultural equipment, Tractor components, auto parts, tyres & tubes, electric meters, electronic items, cables and engineering items situated in Chandigarh. Metal products such as Bars, rods of steel & rolled products, HR strips, Basic metal &metal alloy industry are among the leading industries in this sector in Chandigarh. Together they comprise approx. 36% of the manufacturing industry. Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. & Avery Cycles jointly had sales of Rs.50.28bn in the year 2008-09. Transport equipment & parts, Electrical Machine Apparatus Appliances Supplies & parts comprise approx. another 10.2%. Rubber, Plastic, Petroleum & Coal Products comprise approx. 6.96%, Paper & Paper Products, Printing, Publishing & Allied Industries approx. 11.5% and Repair & personnel services around 1.01%. Food Products, Wooden/Wood Products Furniture & Fixtures, Woolen Textiles, Silk, Synthetics including Art Silk Hosiery and Machinery are the other major industries.

Tourism & Hospitality: Chandigarh has various tourist attractions inside and around the city. Some of the tourist places within the city are Museum of the evolution of life, Child Art Gallery, National Gallery of Portraits, International dolls museum, Punjab Kala Kendra, The Rock Garden, Sukhna Lake, Leisure Valley, Bougainvillea Garden, Zakir Rose Garden, etc. Some of the tourist places in the vicinity of Chandigarh are Pinjore Yadavindra Gardens (20km), Bhima Devi Temple (22km), Chattbir Zoo (15km), Mansa Devi & Chandi Mandir (10km panchakulla), Wagah Border in Amritsar(357 km), Bakra Nangal Dam (116km), Morni Hills (23km), Kasauli (77km), Chail (107km) and Shimla (107km). The city has attracted an average of 829093 domestic tourists & 33629 foreign Tourists during 2008-09 the number of hotels being 36 in the city. This has created an immense opportunity for hospitality and tourism industry.

Banking Industry: Being capital city of two states and a Union Territory most of the nationalised, private, co-operative and foreign banks have their offices or branches in Chandigarh. There were 255 bank offices out of which 252 scheduled banks and 3 foreign banks in the city during the year 2006-07.

Emerging Industries:

Information Technology & ITES: With the establishment of Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP), Chandigarh has not only come up on the national map but also on the international scene. Within a single year Infosys, Virsa, Net-Solutions, Taurusagile, and IBM are a few international IT companies which have established their units here. The Phase I of RGCTP has already been accorded Special Economic Zone (SEZ) status by Ministry of Commerce, Government of India. The UT administration has also approved the Rs120mn Entrepreneur Development Centre (EDC) to be constructed over an area of about 1.5 acres at Rajiv Gandhi Technology Park (RGCTP), Phase-I. Phase-II and Phase-III are being actively developed. In commercial segment DLF has developed state of the art commercial building for the companies to set up operations in the technology park. Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP) provides world class integrated infrastructure necessary for the setting up of facilities/campuses by leading Technology Companies and other IT/ITES/BPO companies for the first time in this region. Coupled with proactive IT & ITES Policies the city is emerging as the hub for IT & IT Enabled Services.

Bio Technology: To give a boost to biotechnology in the city, the administration is planning to have a Chandigarh Science Park alongside the Botanical Garden in Sarangpur. The science park will be set up to promote higher education, R&D, biotechnology & health services. The aim is to create a large pool of personnel with skills in different aspects of biotechnology, and to develop processes, designs, compounds, equipment and solutions which have applications in the field of agriculture, industry, food, medicine, pharmaceuticals and environmental sciences.

Education: The Union territory of Chandigarh situated centrally and as also having a number renowned institute of higher learning, is attracting lot of students from the neighbouring states of Punjab & Haryana and is emerging as an education hub. Further, the proactive policies of the administration on e-learning, promoting computer education, treating institutes imparting computer education on par with software companies, starting education city have resulted in numerous opportunities for the sector. UT administration''''''''s ambitious project of Education City has hastened the city''''''''s transition into a major education hub of the region. With administration''''''''s giving its final go-ahead to the project, which is coming up on 150-acre land at village Sarangpur, a number of foreign universities are evincing keen interest to start their institutes and study centres here. University of Frazer Valley, Canada, Design Institute of Milan, Wayne State University of United States of America and a renowned French University have shown interest to set up their base here. Frazer Valley, Canada wants to start management courses; the Canadian varsity is keen on joining hands with city-based Punjab University. The world-acclaimed Design Institute of Milan intends to start specialised courses in technology and engineering designing. 

Some prominent Institutes in Chandigarh

• Punjab University
• Punjab Engineering College
• Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology
• Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology
• University Business School
• IBS, Mohali
• Indian School of Business , Mohali
• University Institute of Engineering and Technology
• Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology
• Chandigarh College of Architecture
• Institute of Microbial Technology
• National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR)
• Institutes situated in Mohali
• Chandigarh College of Education for Women (CCEW)
• Chandigarh College of Pharmacy (CCP)
• Chandigarh College of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (CCHM)
• National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER)
• Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)

Infrastructural Facilities

Power Scenario in Chandigarh: Chandigarh has installed capacity of 93.46mw as on May 2009. Chandigarh has to depend on the neighbouring states for power. It has 3.5% share in the Bhakra power complex. Some of its power demand is met through Central generation projects. All the villages around the city have been electrified. Their talks are on with GAIL for a dedicated gas pipeline for setting of 250MW power plant.

Airports: There is one domestic Airport in Chandigarh which connects the city with Delhi, Amritsar, Mumbai, Jammu & Srinagar. The airport registered 3,64,167 passenger movements in the year 2008-09. Keeping in view the increase number of visitors on account of economic resurgence in and around the Chandigarh, Airports Authority of India (AAI) in association with Chandigarh Administration has undertaken the up gradation of Chandigarh Airport.

Road Network: The city is well connected by road, rail and airways. There are 24 km of national highways. As on 2008 the total road length stood at 1,536 km with 6,59,850 vehicular population excluding commercial vehicles. It has a fleet of 417 buses. For its long term plan, they are now shifting to RCC roads.

Rail Network: Chandigarh is well connected with Amritsar,Delhi,Mumbai, Chennai, Kerala, Howrah and other cities by Rail. The total route kilo meters rail existing in the state is at 16km. A metro rail network is on the route in the city. The railways have been planting Jatropha Curcus on such patches of land. These plants will be used as fencing by the sides of the track, so cattle''''''''s will be discouraged from coming near the railway tracks.

Industrial Infrastructure and SEZs

Industrial Parks: There are two industrial areas and one Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Chandigarh. Further, one hardware park, one Bio-Technology Park (Science Park) and an Agri park are also being developed. A logistics and an assembly park are being planned near the railway station and national highway-21. The science park is being set up to promote higher education, research and development, biotechnology, health services. The Chandigarh Logistics Park is planned to be set up at Raipur Kalan to promote high-tech manufacturing, logistics and supply chain management facilities. The Hardware Park is being set up in Industrial Area Phase III in Chandigarh near Moli Jagraon.

Special Economic Zone: Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP) was conceived in 2001 by Chandigarh Administration over an area measuring 123 acres under Phase I and 250 acres of land under Phase II. A proposal for developing Chandigarh as a financial services hub is also actively under consideration of the Administration. An Entrepreneurs Development Centre is also planned in Phase I which will provide ready made space for young entrepreneurs. This Centre has state of the art and plug n play facilities to the entrepreneurs. Ready Built Space has also been developed over an area of 12 acres and comprising 6 blocks. Out of 250acres of land of phase II, 123acres has been dedicated for the construction of a Tech Habitat under Public Private Participation (PPP). Keeping in view the huge demand pouring in from various quarters across the globe, another 272 acres of land has been planned for development under Phase III of the RGCTP, which is contiguous to Phase II. So far, RGCTP has so far attracted investment of about Rs.13397 mn of Infosys Technologies Ltd. and DLF Ltd. Annual Software Export of about Rs. 45000mn are likely to take place from RGCTP by 2011. Export income for the year 2008-09 is Rs. 3900 mn. Some of the companies who have set up their shop in the Technology Park are Wipro, Tech Mahindra, eSys Technologies Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd, etc. There are 37 such companies. Apart from this, 21 more companies are making their way. It generates direct employment of 67,700 and indirect employment of 1,80,000.SEZ status has been conferred on RGCTI Phase II by the central Govt & Phase III will be started by December 2009

Human resources: According to 2001 Census, Chandigarh had 81.76 per cent literacy against the national average of 65.38 per cent. The break-up for male is 85.65 and women it is 76.65 per cent where as the national average for female is 54.16 and male is 75.85 per cent. The Chandigarh state administration is placing lot of emphasis on soft skills training through C-TOSS (Chandigarh Training On Soft Skills) programme for up gradation of Human Resources in collaboration with the industry. It is emphasising on R&D activities through Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), PG Institute of Medical Research & Education, Punjab University & Punjab Engineering College and is setting up of Centres of Excellence for research with focus on high-end research in the field of technology and Business Process Outsourcing.

Advantage Chandigarh

• 272 acres of new land under SEZ ( by Dec 2009)
• Farthest point from anywhere in Chandigarh is only 9km
• Computer education is being introduced in schools
• Large number of Universities, Engineering College, Medical colleges and computers institutes.