Nagpur is the largest city in central India and is third largest city by population of Maharashtra. This city is 13th largest urban conglomeration in India and 114th largest city in world. It ranks as 143rd largest urban area in world in terms of population. The city is the commercial and political center of the state's eastern Vidarbha region. Nagpur lies in central India with Zero mile markers (indicating the geographical center of India) located here.
This City was founded by Gond people but later became part of Maratha Empire under the Bhonsles. British East India Company took over the city in 19th century and made it the capital of Central Provinces and Berar. After first state reorganization, it lost the capital status but was made second capital of Maharashtra. Nagpur is strategically important as it is situated at the cross-roads of India's North-South and East-West routes by road, rail and air.
The Nag River, which is a tributary of the Kanhan River, flows in a serpentine path and so got its name, "Nag", the Marathi word for Cobra. The river flows through the old city of Nagpur and so the city derived its name from this river, Nagpur city is dotted with many natural and man made lakes with Ambazari Lake being the largest of all. This city is also famous for growing oranges from which it derives its nickname Orange city.
Nagpur has been the center of commerce in the Vidarbha region since early days and is an important trading location. However, Nagpur's economic importance had gradually declined relative to Mumbai and Pune after the merging of Vidarbha into the Maharashtra because of a prolonged period of neglect by the state government.
Tata group started the country's first textile mill at Nagpur, formally known as Central India Spinning and Weaving Company Ltd. The company was popularly known as "Empress Mills" as it was inaugurated on 1 January 1877, the day queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India.
Nagpur is an important city for the Indian armed forces. It is headquarter of Maintenance command of Indian Air Force. Indian Army's Ordnance factory and Staff College are located on west side of city. Nagpur's suburb Kamptee has cantonment of Regimental center of Indian Army's Brigade made up of National Cadet Corps' Officers' Training School, Institute of Military Law and other establishments. Nagpur's National Civil defense College provides civil defense and disaster management training to pupils from all over India and abroad. Indian Air Force's giant IL-76 transport planes nicknamed "Gajraj" are based in Nagpur.
The city's culture is cosmopolitan as it contains a large number of people from other Indian states as well as people belonging to the world's major faiths. Nagpur plays host to a variety of cultural events throughout the year. Cultural and literary societies in Nagpur include Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh (for development of Marathi), Vidarbha Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti (promotion and spreading Hindi) and Vidarbha Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (for promoting Hindi).
Nagpur's economy is now recovering from past slowdown and city had attracted Rupees 5,000 crore in investment in 2004. During the slowdown, state and central government offices were a major source of employment in the city. Nagpur regional office of Reserve Bank of India was opened on September 10, 1956. The Butibori industrial area is the largest in all of Asia in terms of area. The estate's largest unit is of Indo Rama Synthetics, which manufactures synthetic polyester yarn. Other units in Butibori include the power transmission company KEC, Hyundai Unitech, ACC Nihon Castings Ltd. Koradi Thermal Power Station and Khaparkheda Thermal Power Station are the two major thermal power stations located near Nagpur and operated by MSPGCL.
The Hingna industrial estate located on the western fringes of the city is made up of around 900 small and medium industrial units. The major ones among them are tractor manufacturing plant of Mahindra and Mahindra, casting units of NECO Ltd. (the country's largest casting group), units of International Combustions, Bajaj Auto group, Candico (the SECOND largest confectionery manufacturing plant in India ), Ajanta toothbrushes and Sanvijay Group (largest steel rolling group of companies for long products in Central India). Nagpur is home to ice-cream manufacturer ‘Dinshaws’, Indian dry food manufacturer Haldiram's and Ayurvedic product company Vicco.
Nagpur is a major education centre in Central India. Nagpur University is one of the oldest in the country and has geographical jurisdiction over the five districts of Nagpur division in addition to giving affiliation to hundreds of colleges. Nagpur has three medical colleges and Maharashtra Animal and Sciences University (MAFSU) for veterinary sciences.
This city has several engineering colleges which provide education in various specialty courses. Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) is one of the reputed technical institutes in the country and also an Institute of National Importance. Hislop College Nagpur is one of the oldest colleges in Nagpur and has India's only National Fire Service College that provides graduation course in Fire Engineering. Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (LIT) which is one of few colleges for chemical engineering. Institute of Management Technology is also located here in Nagpur. College of Agriculture in Nagpur provides impetus in agricultural research. City's Raman Science Centre promotes scientific attitude and has 133 seat planetariums. Nagpur also has three well known medical colleges namely Government Medical College also called as Medical, Indira Gandhi Medical College also called as Mayo and Lata Mangeshkar Medical College.
Nagpur has a tropical wet and dry climate, with dry conditions prevailing for most of the year as it is located at centre of Indian peninsula far from Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea. Nagpur city receives an annual rainfall of 1,205 mm (47.44 in) from monsoon rains during June to September. Summers are extremely hot lasting from March to June, with maximum temperatures in May. Winter lasts from November to January with temperatures dropping below 10°C (50°F).
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