Sugar Industry in India is the second largest agro-based industry in the country next to cotton textiles. The Indian Sugar Industry is playing a pivotal role in rural development, supporting over about 50 million sugarcane farmers, their dependents and a large mass of agricultural laborers involved in sugarcane cultivation, harvesting, machine manufacturing etc. of almost 671 sugar mills and ancillary activities, constituting some 7.5% of the rural population. In addition, about 0.5 million skilled and semiskilled workers, mostly from the rural areas are engaged in the sugar industry.

Sugar Industry in India is the second largest agro-based industry in the country next to cotton textiles. The Indian Sugar Industry is playing a pivotal role in rural development, supporting over about 50 million sugarcane farmers, their dependents and a large mass of agricultural laborers involved in sugarcane cultivation, harvesting, machine manufacturing etc. of almost 671 sugar mills and ancillary activities, constituting some 7.5% of the rural population. In addition, about 0.5 million skilled and semiskilled workers, mostly from the rural areas are engaged in the sugar industry.