Big factories dominate India's manufacturing output, Annual Survey of Industries shows

New Delhi: India's manufacturing output is concentrated in a small number of large factories, with plants generating production above ₹500 crore making up more than three-fifths of the value added in FY25, showed a government survey.

Such factories, accounting for about 3.6% of the country's operational plant capacity, accounted for 62.07% of total manufacturing output and nearly 61% of net value added in the year to March 31, 2025, showed the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) by the statistics ministry.

Such factories also provided employment to about a third of the total employed by the sector for the year. In contrast, factories with annual output up to ₹10 crore accounted for 52.36% of operational units but contributed just 1.92% of total output and 2.12% of net value added (NVA).


The detailed report follows the release of the ASI 2024-25 factsheet in September. The concentration is evident when factories are classified by size of capital. Units with plant and machinery valued at ₹10 crore and above accounted for 15.84% of operational factories in FY25 but contributed 76.82% of total output and 78.07% of NVA. They also accounted for 87.42% of fixed capital deployed in the registered manufacturing sector, and 59.66% of total persons engaged.

In comparison, factories with investment of up to ₹5 crore represented 78.69% of operational units and employed 34.32% of the workforce, but contributed only 19.24% of total output and 17.61% of NVA. Overall, the manufacturing corporate sector, which accounts for more than 89% of total manufacturing gross value added (GVA), recorded a 9.28% year-on-year increase in GVA in FY25. Gross value of plant and machinery in the registered manufacturing sector rose 7.25%, while net value added per factory in operation increased 6.59%.

However, the growth in value creation has not translated into equally strong gains in per-worker value addition. GVA per person engaged grew 2.25% during the year, even as the number of persons engaged in the manufacturing corporate sector increased 7.57%. The number of factories in operation in this segment rose 3.45%. Employment also remains concentrated in a handful of industries.