India is an emerging economy where rapid growth in small and large enterprises is taking
place. The environmental impact of such industrialization has become a prime concern.
This study is undertaken to investigate the characteristics of manufacturing units (firms
subsequently) that influence their environmental consciousness. The environmental
consciousness is measured as intensity of investment on pollution control equipment. The
paper uses data from Annual Survey of Industries, 2010-11. The variables used in the
study are - investment on pollution control equipment, age of firms, wage rates, size of
firms, investment on imported raw material and ICT equipment etc. Two industrial
sectors, namely; chemical and textile have been used in the study. A Censored Tobit
model is used to identify the factors that influence the extent of investment in pollution
control equipment. The findings suggest that newer firms in textile sector are more
environmentally conscious. The results also suggest that more environmentally conscious
firms are more technology savvy as far as adoption of ICTs is concerned. The factors are
not uniform across both the sectors. The size of firms and intensity of ICT used have
emerged as common factors while in textile industry, age has also played an important
role.