The goods of the Kangra and Mandy Hills also found their way here and were exchanged for the produce of the plains.

They used to manufacture from coarse wool, a sort of thick, warm serge which the Sikh horsemen wore in winter and during the rains.

There was a large demand for shawls in various parts of the country. But, after the death of Ranjit Singh, the entire trade declined owing to political insecurity and indiscriminate taxation of the artisans of Amritsar. The shawl industry, too, could not escape this blow . Apart from the pashmina work, silk goods were also manufactured in Amritsar. Raw silk was imported from Bukhara and it was cleaned, sorted, carded and dyed at Amritsar and then exported to different places in India. Spun and artificial silks were imported from England, Japan, Italy and Switzerland. Later, on, wool also came to be imported from Bukhara via worth 3 lakhs of rupees. In old days, silk was considered to be a luxury and it was worn by princes, nobles and the rich.Amritsar was also known for carpet-weaving. With the development of the pashmina industry, the weavers also took to carpet-weaving which required inferior varieties of raw wool. The products were so skillfully designed that they became known far and wide. These were also exhibited in important exhibitions held in India and abroad. A large number of carpets were exported to England, the USA, France, etc. Towards the close of the nineteenth century, there were about 150 looms at work at Amritsar.

Besides, the above industries, acids and other chemicals, soap, gold thread, silver thread, etc. were also manufactured in small quantities. Carving was done in ivory, wood and metal. Though not much, wood-carving was done at Amritsar and Tarn Taran. Utensils-making also formed as old and important industry of the district. One firm had also started the cleaning of cotton with machinery which was a new thing in those days. Jandiala Guru was famous for metalwares. Zinc ornaments were also made in rural areas for the poor people. About the beginning of the twentieth century, other industries, like the distilling of spirits, ice-making, printing of textiles, tanning and weaving also came into being.

Power-looms were set up at Amritsar for the first time in 1919. These were operated, using the woollen yarn. In course of time, some wool-spinning mills also came into being. But, as the period from 1920 to 1933 was one of depression, the industry could not flourish much. In 1939, with the outbreak of the World War II, the industry got a great impetus, as the foreign imports stopped and the local market had to depend on indigenous production. With the achievement of independence in 1947, the industry got a further fillip and all-round progress was made.

The partition of the country in 1947 gave a temporary set-back to the industries of the district, as it not only lost the skilled workers but also markets for the outlet of products. But soon after, the scarcity of labour was overcome by training the displaced persons who came from Pakistan. In order to rehabilitate these people, industry was considered to be the best means of employment for them. These people has great initiative and drive and lost no time in availing themselves of this opportunity to start small-scale industries. Some of them engaged themselves in the already existing industries of textiles, whereas some others started the manufacturing of paints, plastic goods and rubber goods. During the fifties, a large number of new industries sprang up and the already existing units expanded.

In 1967-68, there were about 27 units in the large-scale sector and about 5,500 units in the small-scale sector, producing a large number of engineering goods, wood and machine screws, panel pins, textile machinery, printing and paper-cutting machinery, electric fans, chemicals and, above all, the textiles – woolen, silken, cotton, etc. In the production of woolen fabrics, like worsted, tweeds, blankets, shawls, etc. the district holds a prominent place in the country.