Madurai traditionally was an agrarian society with paddy as the main crop. Cotton crop cultivation in the regions with black soil in Madurai district was introduced during the Nayaka rule during the 16th century, to increase the revenue from agriculture. The paddy fields cultivated in the Vaigai delta across Madurai North, Melur, Nilakottai and Uthamapalayam is known as "double-crop paddy belts". Farmers in the district supplement their income with subsidiary occupations like dairy farming, poultry-farming, pottery, bri1987ck making, mat-weaving and carpentary. Madurai is famed for its jasmine plantation (called "Madurai Malli") at the foothills of Kodaikanal hills and trading at the Madurai morning flower market. An average of 2,000 farmers sell flowers daily at the flower market.
With the advent of Small Scale Industries (SSI) after 1991, the industrialization of Madurai developed employment in the sector across the district from 63,271 in 1992-93 to 166,121 persons in 2001-02. 28% of the SSIs are Textile based, 22.9% are building based, 18.1% are building based and 10.4% are electric based.
Madurai is one of the few rubber growing area in South India and there are rubber based industries in Madurai. Besides gloves, sports goods, mats and other utility products, Madurai contributes in large to the production of automobile rubber components. TVS Srichakra (tyre manufacturing), Sundaram Industries (Rubber Division, Coach division), Fenner India, Hi-Tech Arai Ltd and Lanxess India are some of the rubber based industries in the city.
Major automobile producers like General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Honda are regular buyers of components produced in the city. The city is home to one of the top motor cycle manufacturers in India the TVS Group.
Madurai has developed as a second-tier city for IT and some software companies have opened their centres in Madurai. Software Technology Parks of India, an agency of the Government of India, has
