India’s factory floors and industrial units added a lot of jobs in 2024–25, and the total number of industrial workers crossed the 2-crore mark for the first time, according to the Annual Survey of Industries shared by the government and reported by The Economic Times.
The rise was broad and steady, with the registered manufacturing sector at the heart of the story: more units, more people at work, and higher pay packets than the year before. It reads like a quiet but strong turnaround: when factories grow, families feel it in regular salaries, steadier shifts, and a little more confidence about the future.
The numbers show that around 2.10 crore people were engaged in industries in 2024–25, up by about 7.19% from 1.96 crore a year earlier. This jump was not just on paper; it came with real movement on the ground, more establishments, more output, and more value being created inside the country.
Wages paid to workers rose by roughly 12.08% compared with 2023–24, which means the money flowing into households from industrial work grew faster than the headcount itself. For someone watching from a small town or a city neighbourhood, this often shows up as extra shifts in a plant, new hiring at an ancillary unit, or a cousin joining a factory job that pays a bit better than before.
Manufacturing led this wave. The number of registered manufacturing establishments went up by about 2.64% to 2.67 lakh, with Tamil Nadu hosting the most at 41,221, followed by Gujarat at 33,084 and Maharashtra at 27,379. These states, along with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, together accounted for around 56% of all manufacturing employment in the year.
In simple terms, more than half of the country’s factory jobs were concentrated in these five, which is why local economies there felt the buzz more visibly: more buses on shift routes, more canteens open late, and more small shops selling to workers after hours.
Value creation inside factories also climbed. Gross value added (GVA) in manufacturing rose by about 9.59% to Rs 2,694.2 thousand crore from Rs 2,458.3 thousand crore a year earlier, pointing to stronger industrial activity and deeper value addition within India.
Maharashtra had the largest share of manufacturing GVA, followed by Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh; together these five states contributed more than 54% of manufacturing GVA and about 53.30% of total manufacturing establishments.
This pattern matters because when GVA grows, it usually means more raw materials are being processed locally, more components are being made here, and more finished goods are leaving Indian gate steps that support jobs beyond the factory floor too.
Investment and profits moved in the same hopeful direction. Invested capital, which includes fixed capital and physical working capital, grew by around 11.10% during the year, while net income rose 9.68% and net profit increased 7.73%.
Higher investment often translates into newer machines, better lines, and sometimes new product ranges, which in turn can keep employment steady and open doors for skill upgrades. The five largest industries by GVA were basic metals, motor vehicles, chemicals and chemical products, pharmaceutical products, and food products together contributing more than 45% of India’s total manufacturing GVA in 2024–25.
These sectors are familiar names in daily life: steel for construction and appliances, cars and two-wheelers for commute, medicines for health, chemicals for countless everyday items, and packaged foods that reach local kirana stores.
The survey itself covered the period from April 2024 to March 2025, with fieldwork done between October 2025 and June 2026, and it tracks employment, output, value addition, capital formation, wages and other indicators for the registered manufacturing sector.
Such data helps connect big national numbers to lived realities: how many people found work, where the work was, and whether pay kept pace. The rise past 2 crore industrial jobs, paired with double-digit wage growth and healthy gains in GVA and capital, paints a picture of an industrial base that is adding depth, not just breadth.
