Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy. It contributes a considerable 30 percent share to the total national income and provides employments nearly to 70 percent population of the country. Sugar industry has a very important place in the agriculture sector. Indian sugar industry also deals with 5 cores of the sugarcane farmers and their dependents and large masses of' agricultural labour are involved in sugarcane cultivation, harvesting and ancillary activities. Sugar industry is the biggest industry in the rural areas of India. It is mainly based on agro-product, which is sugarcane. It is a second largest industry in India. There are 516 sugar factories in the country. Today, India is a biggest producer of sugar and gur in the world. The area under sugarcane cultivation was nearly 41.79 lakh hectors in 2009-10.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Prof. Gohil Daxa concluded that the transaction cost influencing the financial performance at greater extent whereas transaction cost leads to increase profitability up to optimum level of production but after it negatively influences the financial performance.

Mr. Nopany, Chief, ISMA, concluded that the Indian sugar industry has emerged amongst the most diversified industry in the world within installed capacity to produced 847MW co-generated power. But, there is a potential 5000M W, which has also been recognized by the government.

Shewale P.K, concluded that in the cost of production, the cost of cane accounts for about 55.70 percent of the total cost. Production can be minimized by largely increasing sugar-cane and yield.

Shivanna, concluded that to obtain competitive edge, Indian sugar industry needs capacity expansion and technological up gradation to reduce production cost of sugar.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

Sugar is the backbone of the economy of all industrial countries. Due to its strong backward and forward linkages, it is also indispensable for the growth and development of the Indian economy. The efficiency with which the resources of the sugar industry are managed, affects a national economy in a complex way.

OBJECTIVES:

(i) To review the progress of sugar industry in India,

(ii) To analyze the sugarcane production and yield of sugarcane per hector in India.

(iii) To analyze the production of the sugar, and

(iv) To make suggestions for improvements.

Table No. 1 The number of sugar factories, area Of cultivation, production,and yield of sugarcane

Year	No. of sugar factories in operation	Area under sugarcane (lakh hectors)	Production of sugarcane (lakh MT.)	Yield of sugarcane per hector
1930-31	29	11.76	363.54	30.90
1940-41	148	16.17	519.78	32.10
1950-51	138	17.07	692.20	40.50
1960-61	173	24.56	1105.44	45.00
1970-71	216	26.15	1263.68	48.30
1980S1	314	26.67	1542.48	57.08
1990-91	385	36.86	2410.46	65.40
200001	436	43.16	2959.56	68.60
2009-10	516	41.79	2270.00	67.70

Table No.2:

The production of sugar and recovery rate in India

Year	Production of sugar (lakh M.T.)	Recovery rate (percentage)
1930-31	1.20	8.96
1940-41	11.13	9.70
1950-51	11.01	10.03
1960-61	30.28	9.74
1970-71	37.40	9.78
1980-81	57.47	9.98
1990-91	120.46	9.85
2000-01	185.11	10.48
2009-10	187.50	10.13

Table No. 3 The performance of sugar Factories In India

Year	Sugar Production (lakh M.T.)	Recovery rate (percentage)
2000-01	185.11	10.48
2001-02	185.28	10.27
2003-04	201.45	10.36
2004-05	135.46	10.22
2005-06	126.90	10.17
2006-07	192.67	10.50
2007-08	283.64	10.29
2008-09	263.57	10.55
2009-10	145.40	10.03
2010-11	187.50	10.13
Total	190.98	10.30
Average	190.69	10.30

Hypothesis:

'The sugar industry in India has been progressing in the 21st century."

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

This study is based on only secondary sources of information. The data have collected from books, journals, published reports, annual statements and departmental records of ministry. Published information collected from libraries and websites of the Indian sugar mills Association (ISMA), New Delhi. The data are considered for analysis for the period of 1930 - 31 to 2009-10. The conclusions were drawn on the basis of the data analysis.

Data Analysis:

The detailed analysis of data is as following:

The number of sugar factories, area under sugar cultivation, production of sugarcane and yield of sugarcane are given in Table 1, from 1930 -31 to 2009 -10.Source: ISMA, NEW DELHI

Above Table: revealed that number of sugar factories has increased from 29 in 1930 31 to 516 in 2009 -10. There is an increasing trend in the number of sugar factories. The area under sugarcane cultivation has increased from 11.76 lakh hectors in 1930-31 to 41.79 lakh hectors in 2009.10. Thus, there is a tremendous increase in the area of cultivation of sugarcane.

The production of sugarcane was 363.54 lakh M.T. in 1930 - 31 which increased to 2770.00 lakh M.T. in 2009-10.The progress of production in sugarcane was 7.61Percent increased during the period. The yield of sugarcane has increased from 30.9 M.T. per hector in 1930-31 to 61.70 M.T. in 2009-10. There is an increasing trend in the yield of sugarcane per hector.

The production of sugar and Recovery rate in India are given below from 1930-31 to 2009-10. Source: ISMA, NEW DELHI

Above Table: revealed that production of sugar has increased from 1.20 M.T. in 1930-31 to 187.50 M.T.in2009-10. Thus, there is a tremendous increase in the sugar production. The sugar recovery rate has increased' from 8.96 percent in 1930-31 to 10.13 percent in 2009 - 10.There is an increasing trend in the sugar recovery rate. This indicates that the sugar industry is efficient in sugar production and recovery rate.

Performance of sugar factories in 21^st century: The performance of sugar Factories in India are given below in Table 3, from 200-01 to 2010-11.Source: ISMA, NEW DELHI

Above Table: revealed that the average sugar production was 190.69 lakh M.T. during the period 2000-01 to 2010-11. The average recovery rate was 10.30 percent during the same period. However, the sugar production and sugar recovery rate are the same during the period.

Testing of Hypothesis:

There is a tremendous increase in sugarcane production, yield per hectare, sugar production and recovery rate in the twenty first century. Hence, the hypothesis

"The sugar industry in India has been progressing in the twenty first century " is accepted.

CONCLUSIONS:

India is the biggest producer of sugar in the world. The number of sugar factories has increased from 29 in 1930-31 to 516 in 2009-10.The area under sugarcane has increased from 11.76 lakh hectors to 41.79 lakh hectors. The production of sugarcane has also increased from 363.54 lakh M.T. to 2770.00 lakh M.T. The yield of sugarcane has increased from 30.9 M.T. per hector to 61.70 M.T. per hector during the period. The sugar production and recovery rate have also increased in the same period. The sugar industry in India has been progressing.

SUGGESTIONS:

(1) Sugar factories have to organize research and development activities for increasing the quality of sugarcane improvement.

(2) The Government should promote farmers to adopt new technology like drip irrigation and organic fertilizers to improve yield.

(3) Variety cane development programme and cultivation of sugarcane is necessary to achieve higher recovery and yield of sugarcane.

(4) The government should provide higher price to the sugarcane of the farmers.

REFERENCES:

1. Gohil Daxa, Indian Journal of Accounting, December 2007

2. A Repots of Ministry Food, Govt. of India

3. A Reports of Sugar Industry, Govt of india

4. Ajit Nanda, Sugar India Year Bookl 2011

5. WWW.Indian sugar.com

6. WWW. vsi sugar .com.

Received on 26.07.2012 Accepted on 12.08.2012

Asian J. Management 3(3): July-Sept., 2012 page 174-176