For years, India’s manufacturing sector was mostly mentioned as an afterthought in conversations around job creation. No one seemed to know when the sector would show signs of revival. As for the sector showing an upward trajectory? That was gradually becoming a dream at best. However, the latest official numbers offer enough reason to believe that the dream may not be that far-fetched after all.
In 2024-25, the number of people employed in India’s registered factory sector rose from 1.96 crore in the previous year to 2.10 crore. That means the number of persons engaged rose by about 14 lakhs in a single year, an increase of 7.19 per cent.
To put this in perspective, the total number of people employed in the factory sector was 82.8 lakhs in 1990-91. It then rose to 1.02 crore by 1995-96. But by 2001-02, the figure had fallen to 77.5 lakhs, around 24 per cent below the 1995-96 level (Although there was a change in the Annual Survey of Industries’ (ASI) coverage from 1998-99. So, the two figures are not strictly comparable). By 2004-05, the number had picked up to 84.5 lakhs.
However, by 2011-12, the factory sector had not only recovered but actually crossed the peak of 1995-96 to reach 1.34 crore. And by 2013-14, ASI noted that 1,35,38,114 people were engaged in the sector.
After this period, the broad direction was upwards. The pandemic did manage to slow it down but not for long. Employment in the sector continued to grow from 1.35 crore in 2013-14, to around 1.63 crore in 2018-19, 1.72 crore in 2021-22, 1.85 crore in 2022-23, 1.96 crore in 2023-24 and 2.10 crore in 2024-25. So, registered factories in India now employ about 75 lakhs more people than in 2013-14, a clear growth of around 55 per cent.
And the upward trajectory is not just limited to employment in the sector. The number of factories grew to 2.67 lakhs in 2024-25, industrial output rose by 7.81 per cent, gross value added by 9.59 per cent and fixed capital by 10.54 per cent.
Among the major manufacturing industries, the largest employers in 2024-25 were food products, textiles, basic metals, motor vehicles and wearing apparel, in that order. And 56 per cent of this factory employment came from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Although the ASI mainly covers India’s registered factory sector and its measure of “persons engaged” is broader than workers alone, a growth from 1.35 crore to 2.10 crore in 11 years cannot be brushed away.
But can India sustain this decade of growing factory employment to make its dream come true – industrial growth that creates jobs on a massive scale? That is one answer only time will reveal.