Udupi district in the Karnataka state of India was created in August 1997. The three northern tehsils of Udupi, Kundapur and Karkala, were separated from Dakshina Kannada District to form Udupi district. Moodabidri was officially declared as new tehsil, separated from Karkala with effect from January 11, 2018. The district headquarters are in the city of Udupi.
Udupi district is connected by road and railway line. The National highway 66 is the main highway road of Udupi district. National highway 169A connects this district with Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district but it is very narrow at many places and only mini buses and mini lorries are allowed on Agumbe ghat through which this national highway 169A passes. The national highway 169 from Mangaluru to Shivamogga passes through Sanoor, Karkala, Bajagoli, Mudar of this district. There are few state highways built and maintained by Karnatakapublic works department. Main District Roads connect villages and towns of the district. Konkan Railway connects Udupi with Goa, Maharshtra and Kerala states. Nandikoor, Padubidre, Udupi, Barkur, Kundapura and Baindur are few railway stations on Konkan railway line. There are trains from Udupi to state capitalBangalore, Mangalore, Kasaragod, Margao, Thane and Mumbai.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census Udupi district has a population of 1,177,361. This gives it a ranking of 403rd in India. The district has a population density of. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 5.9%. Udupi has a sex ratio of 1093 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 86.29%. About 28% of the population lives in the urban areas. 6.4% of the population belong to Scheduled Castes and 4.5% belong to Scheduled Tribes. According to the 2011 census, 42.69% of the population speaks Kannada, 31.44% Tulu, 11.31% Konkani, 4.61% Urdu, 2.83% Marathi, 2.13% Malayalam and 2.01% Others as their first language.
A thermal power plant has been set up at Nandikoor in Udupi district, with installed capacity of 1200 MW and a further 1600 MW proposed. Suzlon has a manufacturing facility at Padubidre for making blades for wind mills. The project has been mired in controversies, with the company announcing a lock-out in November, 2017 that lasted for more than a month. Activities were again suspended in July, 2018. A strategic petroleum reserve is setup at an underground location in the village of Padur village in the Udupi district. At Shivalli Industrial Estate in Manipal a few small scale industries have set up factories. There are few clay roof tiles industry, Cashew nut processing industry, Coconut oil mills and fish meal industry in Udupi district. There are many small entrepreneurs who make Pickles, Happala, Spices powder and other food products in this district. Prior to nationalisation of commercial banks and insurance companies in early 1960's the district had many private banks and insurance companies. Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank and Canara Bank had genesis in this district before independence of India from British in 1947 A.D.
