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(a) Industry

Industry includes all those activities which are engaged with the production of goods by utilising all the available resources. It constitutes the whole series of human efforts leading to generation of want satisfying potential in the shape of goods and services.

The activities in the industry are concerned with the raising, production, processing or fabrication of goods. Theproduce of an industry may be either for the use of the final consumers or for further production or processing.

Types of industry

On the basis of kinds of goods produced by the industries, they may be classified as Primary industries and Secondary industries.

Primary Industries:

These are nature oriented industries i.e., industries engaged with the production of goods with the help ofnature. E.g.: Agriculture, Fishing, forestry, etc. The application of human efforts in this type of industries is comparatively lesser as the final product produced is with the help of nature and not by manual labour. Primary industries are further classified into Genetic industries and Extractive industries:

(i) Genetic industries:

These industries engage in reproduction and multiplicationof certain species of plants and animals with the object of earning profit from their sale. E.g.: Nurseries, where desired plants are multiplied, cattle breeding, poultry farming etc.

(ii) Extractive industries:

These industries are engaged with extracting or drawing out or raising various forms of raw-materials from beneath the surface of earth. These are also called Exhaustive industriesEg: Mining, oil exploration, afforestation (growing forests with a view of procuring products from the forests).

2. Secondary Industries:

These are labour oriented industries, wherein man plays a major role than nature. They are further classified into Manufacturing industries and Construction industries, i) manufacturing industries: These industries ire engaged with the conversion of rawmaterials or semi-finished goods into finished products.

The products of extractive industries generally become the raw materials of these industries. These industries are operated with more human efforts as the task of producing a complete product lies with these industries.

Most of the needs of consumers are met-with by them. This is the reason why, ordinarily the term industry is used torefer to manufacturing industry.

E.g.: Paper industries which convert bamboo into paper, industries which convert sugarcane into sugar, industries which convert iron ore into steel. The goods produced here are on large scale.

ii) Construction industries: These are industries which are engaged with the creation of an infrastructure for orderly and efficient conduct of economic activities. Theseindustries produce goods which are not marketed, but are built or erected at a fixed place.

They use the product of manufacturing and extractive industries. These are more or less permanent in nature. E.g.: Construction of roads, canals, bridges, railway tracks etc.

(b) Commerce

Industries are involved with the activity of producing a product which is needed by the people to satisfy theirwants. But there has to be a way through which, the producer of industries reach the consumers who actually want them.

These activities or commercial occupations which distribute the goods to the final consumer constitute commerce. Commerce is "an organised system for the exchange of goods between the members of the industrial world." (James Stephenson: "Principles and Practice of Commerce").It establishes the necessary link between the producers and consumers and sees that an uninteresting and free flow of goods and services to the consumers is ensured, whenever they need and wherever they want. "It is the sum total of those processes which are engaged in the removal of hindrances of persons (trade), place (transport and insurance), and time (warehousing) in the exchange...