Economy of Chandigarh

The Union Territory of Chandigarh is the capital of both states of Punjab and Haryana. Hence government is the major employer in the UT. Majority of the population of the city is either serving for one of these three governments (governments of Punjab, Haryana and UT) or have retired from government services.

This is why Chandigarh is sometime referred to as “Pensioner’s Paradise”. The second source of income for the people is provided by the industries dealing with various products.

The major industries comprise manufacture of paper, basic chemicals, basic metals and alloys and machinery. Some other important industries include food products, metal products, electrical goods, transport equipment and repair services.

The overall picture is that Chandigarh's economy is dominated by industries manufacturing food products or providing repair services, with basic metals and alloys and manufacture of machinery occupying a second rung. Other two most important industries viz.

IT and Tourism have experienced rapid growth in their respective field to carry forward economy to a new height. Other sources of income include cultivation, animal husbandry, fishery and, trade and commerce. Wheat, maize, paddy, vegetables are the major crops of Chandigarh.

Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation Limited (CITCO) is the agency responsible for creating an atmosphere for rapid industrial growth in the city.

To help small scale entrepreneurs CITCO disburses grants of seed money/margin money, procures and distributes iron and steel raw material and IPCL products and constructs industrial sheds. CITCO also runs a Quality Marking Centre where products of small scale units are quality-tested.