Uttara Kannada District was initially under Madras Presidency and subsequently came under Bombay Presidency. After Independence and till 1956 the
District was in Maharashtra State and after States reorganisation, merged into Karnataka. The cultural the pattern of people has thus been influenced both by Maharashtra and Karnataka. The languages spoken in this District are Kannada & Konkani. Goa being the border State, portugal culture has also influenced the District.

There are about 5836 Tiny/Small Scale Industries registered with the Directorate of Industries & Commerce with an investment of Rs. 11,473.26 lakhs. Employment provided by these units is to the tune of 33,988 persons. The major products of these units are Roofing Tiles, Coir products, Jewelry , Food products, Wood & Steel Furniture, Glass & Ceram.ics, Sea Foods etc. Some of these SSI & Tiny Industries are providing Job Works, Components & Spares required for Large & Medium Scale Industries both within and out side the District.

Eight Large & Medium Scale Industries in the District are producing variety of products viz, Paper, Duplex Board, Caustic Soda, Ferro Alloys, Transmission Gears, Food Concentrate , Herbal Medicines & Pharmaceuticals. The Specialty of Large & Medium Industries in our District are not posing threat to the existing SSI Units of the District, on the other hand they are complementary.

The future industrial growth of Uttara Kannada District is bright owing to the Sea Bird Project at Karwar & due to the Large Investment likely to take place on Tadri Port and also the proposed Railway line between Ankola & Hubli.
It is the thinking of the Government to remove regional imbalance in development of Industries throughout the state. This document indicates long term exploitable potential based on market demand, natural resources, human resources, existing and planned infrastructure.

To plan the future, we should know the present status of our District in terms of availability of resources and present infrastructure. The data were collected 'from various department and organisations. It is hoped that this perspective plan will help planners, investors, Govt. & non Govt. organisations and financial institutions to take decisions on industrial development.