General Studies I · Topic
Resources and industrial location
Official syllabus
Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub- continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).
UPSC CSE 2026 notification
What this covers
This branch connects the geography of natural resources with the location of economic activity. Study why resources occur where they do, how accessibility and technology convert natural endowments into usable resources, and how firms choose locations through combinations of inputs, markets, labour, energy, transport, infrastructure, institutions, risk and agglomeration. Separate physical occurrence from economic extraction and industrial location from later persistence or relocation.
Key ideas
- Resource occurrence accessibility and use
- Renewable and non-renewable resources
- World South Asian and Indian distribution
- Primary-sector location
- Secondary-sector location
- Tertiary-sector location
- Transport cost agglomeration and market access
- Technology policy risk and sustainability
Subtopics 5
- 01Distribution of key natural resourcesNatural-resource distribution is uneven because geological history, climate, relief, soils, hydrology and biological processes vary across space.
- 02South Asian and Indian resource geographySouth Asian and Indian resource geography examines how geological provinces, monsoon climate, river systems, relief, coasts and densely settled…
- 03Primary-sector location factorsPrimary activities obtain products directly from land, water or living systems.
- 04Secondary-sector location factorsSecondary activities transform raw or intermediate materials.
- 05Tertiary-sector location factorsTertiary activities provide services rather than transforming material inputs.