Kozhikode district represents one of the industrially advanced areas of the state, with many small scale industries flourishing from the early days
With the close of the 19th century, a number of large scale concerns sprang up in the district some of the more important large and medium scale industries are textiles rayons, grade pulp, soap, cosmetics, oil, wheat flour, steel products, tiles, seafood processing, allopathic medicines, etcThere are16 large and medium scale industrial units in the district. They are:
- Grasim Industries Ltd; pulp Division Mavoor
- Malabar Spinning &Weaving co, Ltd: Thiruvannur Nada.
- Common wealth weaving Factory.
- Hindustan Leaver Ltd; Big bazaar Kozhikode.
- Keltron T.V Units, Nandi Bazar Koyilandy.
- The common wealth Trust (India) Ltd Puthiyara.
- The common wealth Weaving factory Beach, Kozhikode.
- The common wealth tile Factory, Feroke.
- Southern Gas Ltd Cheruvannur.
- The Kerala State coir corporation Beypore.
- Malabar Organic Ltd, Moodadi ,Koyilandy.
- Uniroyal Marine Exports Ltd Vengalam, (PO) Kozhikode.
- Baby Marine Exports Ltd, West Hill.
- Malabar Crump Rubber Factory Kuppayakode Kodencherry.
- Poilakada Fisheries, West Hill Kozhikode.
- Charupara Bricks & metals, thottumukkam, Kodiyathur, Kozhikode.
The total strength of employees of these units is around 5500. The timber industry has great influence on the economy of this district. A feature of this industry is the concentration of units in and around Kallai. A large number off saw mill are located here. The finished timber goods are marketed locally.
As a corollary to the establishment of saw mills, furniture making has also sprung up in the district. There are 1031 registered forest based industrial units. All these units are concentrated at Kallai, Cheruvannur and Feroke area.
Another major industry is the tile industry. The first tile factory went on steam as early as 1874 in Puthjiyara, Kozhikode, thanks to the endeavors of the Basel Mission Establishment. The title factories are mostly concentrated at feroke-Cheruvannur area, which is rich in quality clay deposits. The tiles from Kozhikode are famous all over the country and command an export market. There has also been diversification in this industry with the production of ceramic pottery crockery, stone ware pipes and insulation materials.
Among other important industries mention may be made about textiles, plywoods, splints and veneers, coir, printing and publishing, general engineering, automobiles and oil. The state Government is running is an industrial estate with an area of 12.43 acres at west hill. started in 1962, the industrial estate now has 52 units. The products manufactured are rubber based and allies d items, paints and varnishes, engineering goods, plastics, bakery, steel fabrication works, paper bags etc.
The district has ten mini industries estates, set up in ten panchayats, namely Peruvayal, Kunnamangalam, Kunnummal, Naduvannur, Chathamangalam, Payyoil, Balusseri, Unnikulam, Kadalundi and Perambra. There are 118 industrial co-operative societies in the districts.
According to the latest statistics available, there are 16 large and medium units and 7709 (position as on 1993-94)SSI units. Of the 7709 SSI units, 843 are agro based, 204 building material –based and 2794 miscellaneous.