Uttar Pradesh goes past Delhi with over 15k companies registered in FY25 so far

Uttar Pradesh added more companies than Delhi in the first 10 months of this fiscal year, trailing only Maharashtra in incorporating new businesses, underscoring the mainly agrarian state’s growing efforts at industrialisation.

As many as 15,590 new companies were registered in UP between April 2024 and January 2025, compared with 12,759 in Delhi, data from the corporate affairs ministry showed. Maharashtra added about 21,000 new companies in this period.

Company incorporations indicate investor confidence in the medium-to-long term growth prospects of a state, among other reasons.


Strong economic growth in recent years, a vast and expanding consumer base, greater focus on ease of doing business and a large pool of affordable workers, on top of improved law and order situation, have drawn investors to UP, experts and a state government official said.

The national capital’s proximity to Noida, a key industrial centre in UP, also helps draw investors there, the official said, given that real estate costs are lower there than in Delhi.

Large Consumer Base

Delhi still tops UP by a wide margin in housing “active” or operational companies, thanks to a large number of incorporations over decades, even as Maharashtra remains the leader on this front as well.

As many as 1,50,703 “active” companies were based out of UP as of January 2025, compared with 2,50,162 in Delhi and 3,46,555 in Maharashtra, according to the latest data.

Because of a spike in new company registrations, UP has overtaken West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the past five years to emerge as the third largest state in terms of housing operational companies, behind Maharashtra and Delhi.

UP has a population of more than 240 million, according to the 2011 census, making it the largest state in terms of the number of consumers.

About 55-56% of the state’s population is in the working age group, which will continue to not just drive consumption but also keep the labour force large, a senior state government official had told ET late last year.

The state’s annual economic growth has remained in the range of 7.5-11.4% since 2021-22, beating the national average.

The state is focussing on promoting both traditional (mostly agriculture-based industrial ecosystem) and the new and sunrise sectors, the official cited above said.

UP has tailored sector-specific policies to meet needs of industries, on top of rolling out financial incentives for businesses, including MSMEs and startups, said Manmeet Kaur, partner at Karanjawala & Co. It has focussed on various sectors, including food processing, handlooms, electronics, tourism, solar energy and pharmaceuticals, she added.

The state houses about 14,000 startups. In the past decade, it has wooed investors in consumer electronics, IT and defence production. Uttar Pradesh accounts for 40% of the country’s mobile handset and 55% of mobile component productions, and holds the sixth position in software exports, according to state government data.