For more than a century Nagpur has been noted in India for its orange gardens and for the cotton and silk fabrics woven by its large Koshti population of handloom weavers. Orange cultivation is still extending and in spite of the competition of machine-woven cloth local and imported, there are still some 5000 handloom weavers at work and many spinners and dyers. Since the advent of the railway Nagpur, rivaled only for a time by its neighbor Kamptee, has become the leading industrial and commercial town of the centre of India. It owes this position chiefly to its cotton trade.

The Empress mills were opened in 1877. They include spinning weaving, and dyeing factories, use 1400 looms and 75,000 spindles, and employ 4300 operatives. Their capital is 47 lakhs and their outturn of yarn and cloth in 1904 was valued at 61 lakhs. The further extension of this great enterprise is conditioned by the water-supply of the city, In late years the supply of labour has been short but a scheme is in hand for the provision of model dwellings for the operatives and these are being attracted from other parts of India. The Swadeshi mills, situated on the opposite side of the lake, were founded in 1892 with a capital of 15 lakhs. They have 180 looms and 16,500 spindles, employ 900 operatives, and produced in 1904 goods to the value of 14 lakhs. Much of the ginning and pressing of the local cotton is done by factories situated in the smaller towns of the District, but in Nagpur itself there are 20 ginning and pressing factories containing 287 gins. They have a combined capital of about 17 lakhs.