Synopsis Industrialisation covers such a wide field that it is almost impossible to identify the contours of its expanse. This work primarily revolves around manufacturing, mainly as a whole, its features, variables ratios, as well as selected individual industry. It is in retrospect in the sense that it traces aspects in the early planning era. While concentrating on manufacturing, it could not ignore other related phenomena like labour distribution as well as sectoral contribution to the GDP, the population pressure, the context of industrialization, technological choice and the modern technological industry. Towards the end, it brings to the forefront the world phenomenon of globalisation, economic reforms in India – its features, impact on sectoral proportionality, and on manufacturing, the deficiencies, and the orientation. It is in this second section that the prospect of industialisation is implicit, and the tasks ahead of the nation, in some respects, concretely stated, not only to make a meaningful advance, but also to sustain its existence in a globally competitive world economy.