and alluvium soil. The main crops are paddy, banana, sugarcane, beetle leaf, grams & pulses, tapioca, kora grass, groundnuts, oilseeds, tropical vegetables, garland flowers, and medicinal herbs. Home textiles Karur is famous for its home textiles. Karur has five major product groups: bed linens, kitchen linens, toilet linens, table linens, wall hangings. Overall Karur generates around Rs.6000 crores in foreign exchange through direct and indirect exports. Allied industries like ginning and spinning mills, dyeing factories, weaving etc, employs at around 450,000 people in and around Karur. On the international textile map, Karur has become synonymous with hand loom made-ups products. The weaving industry came to Karur from Kerala and has earned a reputation for its high-quality hand-loom products today. Hand loom exports from Karur began on a modest scale with just 15 exporters in 1975 and today Karur has thousands of exporters and the products are supplied to world leading chain stores like Walmart, Target, IKEA, Åhléns etc. Paper TNPL is promoted in TNPL Pugalur, by the Government of Tamil Nadu with a loan assistance from the World Bank. Today TNPL is the largest producer of bagasse-based paper in the world and the 2nd largest paper producer in Asia. It produces 230,000 tons of Printing & writing paper and consumes 1 million tonnes of bagasse every year, providing more employment options. It has its finished products, production plant at Mayanur. Petroleum Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has its receiving terminal and retails distribution plant at Attur, near Karur. Bus body building Karur is a renowned hub for bus building industry. Nearly 95% of south Indian private bus bodies are built in Karur. The total business is estimated to be around Rs.2750 crore per Annum. There are more than 200 builders in the district and they make up to 3500 buses per year, including government buses of some states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu etc. Cement Karur is also home to Chettinad Cements and TNPL Cements. Chettinad Cements has an installed production capacity of 600,000 tons per annum, with another 1.1 million tons expansion in the pipeline. Sugar EID Parry has a sugar factory unit at Pugalur with a capacity of 4000 TCD per year. It also has a 22 MW co-generation power plant, with TNPL. Banking The leading private scheduled banks Karur Vysya Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank have their headquarters in Karur. Nylon nets Around 65% of India's production of