The story
Ballari's jeans trade grew from small tailoring shops and the local cotton economy into a cluster of stitching, washing and finishing units. Cheap labour and traders who sold across South India made Ballari jeans a popular low-cost brand. Washing units gathered in the Mundargi industrial area on the town's edge. The Karnataka government is developing a Ballari Jeans Park to modernise the cluster.
In numbers
The Ballari jeans cluster had around 3,500 units including merchant manufacturers, a turnover of Rs 600 crore, indirect exports of about Rs 20 crore and employment of 50,000 (2010-11 data).
Brief Industrial Profile of Bellary District (MSME-DI Hubli, DC-MSME) · 2011In November 2025 the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board ordered 36 jeans washing units to stop work and served notices on 63 units; the sector employs more than 10,000 workers directly and indirectly.
KSPCB shuts 36 Ballari jeans washing units (Apparel Resources) · 2025The Mundargi Industrial Area had 83 washing units before the pandemic; this had fallen to 50 by 2025.
KSPCB shuts 36 Ballari jeans washing units (Apparel Resources) · 2025
Ways in for a newcomer
- Set up a washing unit with its own effluent treatment plant
- Job-work stitching for jeans brands
- Supply buttons, rivets, zips and labels
- Wholesale trading of Ballari jeans to small towns
Problems the cluster faces
- Pollution board closures over untreated wastewater
- Water shortage
- No common effluent treatment plant
- Competition from larger denim hubs
Businesses to start here
Denim Garments (Jeans, Jackets, Shorts) →Denim Washing Unit →Jeggings Stitching Unit →Readymade Garments Unit (Baby Rompers) →