Industry and agriculture
Rampur has an agriculture-based economy. It has very fertile land, but little industry, and has no mineral extraction area. The industry in the city is mainly based on agriculture.The main industries of Rampur are wine making, sugar processing, textile weaving and manufacturing of agricultural implements. There is a non-operational Sugar mill in Rampur which was closed down in 1999 amidst political rivalry. Work has begun to restart the mill after state government approval. Mentha oil industry is a well flourishing sector in Rampur. The major cash crop of city is mentha. The company Mentha and allied products limited has its State-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the city. There was also a knife making industry in Rampur. The knives of Rampur were quite famous in the 20th century and were known as Rampuri Chaaku. Eventually the Government of Uttar Pradesh banned making knives longer than 4.5 inches in blade length, leading to a drop in their popularity.
Radico Khaitan formerly known as Rampur Distillery is one of India's oldest and largest liquor manufacturers which was established in 1943. Rampur Distillery is one of the largest and most efficiently-run distilleries in India manufacturing high grade Extra Neutral Spirit (ENA) from Molasses and Grain with a production capacity of 75 Million Litres p.a. of molasses ENA and 30 million p.a. of Grain Neutral Spirit, it has taken the capacity up to 105 million lit p.a which make it one of the largest distilleries in the country.
Kite making industry is one of the oldest and prime industries in Rampur. Various sizes and shapes of kite made by manual labour in Rampur. The kites made in Rampur are in great demand all over Uttar Pradesh.
Beedi making is booming industry over here
