01 — Local economy
Business in Durgapur
Steel, power and chemicals line the Grand Trunk Road through Durgapur, a town planned in the 1950s around public-sector industry. The Durgapur Steel Plant and Alloy Steels Plant, thermal power stations and chemical, carbon-black and heavy-equipment units are its anchors, supported by ancillary firms supplying refractories, rolls, spares, fabrication and maintenance, and NIT Durgapur makes it an education centre too.
Where software helps: Ancillary suppliers to the steel and power plants work on rate contracts and consignment stock for refractories, rolls and spares, which makes tracking consumption, invoices and long public-sector payment cycles difficult.