Archive · 1 Oct 2026
Factory wages rose 5% as Jharkhand recorded only decline
Factory workers in India earned more money on average in 2024–25.
Their average pay rose by 5.3% to Rs 2.28 lakh.
Jharkhand was the only state where average pay went down.
However, Jharkhand’s workers still earned more than the national average.
More workers joined factories across India, and the number of factories also increased.
Uttar Pradesh added factories and workers especially quickly.
Tamil Nadu still had the most factories and factory workers.
Bihar had the largest wage increase among major states, but its workforce became smaller.
These figures come from a government survey of formal manufacturing units.
Average factory wages in India rose 5.3% to Rs 2.28 lakh in 2024–25.
Jharkhand was the only state where average factory wages fell, declining 5.2% to Rs 3.04 lakh.
India’s factory workforce increased 7.3% to 1.67 crore, while factories rose 2.6% to 2.7 lakh.
Uttar Pradesh recorded the fastest growth in factories, while Tamil Nadu retained the largest totals.
Gujarat’s factory count fell 1% and its wages rose only 2%, below the national increase.
- Who
- Factory workers and manufacturing units across India, with notable changes in Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Bihar.
- What
- Factory wages rose nationally, while Jharkhand recorded the only state-level decline in average wages.
- When
- During financial year 2024–25, compared with 2023–24; the data was released Wednesday.
- Where
- Across India’s formal manufacturing sector and its states.
- Why
- The changes reflect shifts in factory numbers, employment, and average wages, according to the Annual Survey of Industries.
- National average wage
- Rs 2.28 lakh per factory worker in 2024–25, up 5.3%.
- Jharkhand wage
- Rs 3.04 lakh, down 5.2% from the previous year.
- National factory workforce
- 1.67 crore workers, an annual increase of 7.3%.
- National factory count
- Approximately 2.7 lakh factories, up 2.6%.
- Fastest factory growth
- Uttar Pradesh increased its factory count by 12.8% to 24,964.
- Largest factory total
- Tamil Nadu had 41,221 factories and 26.1 lakh workers.
- Survey coverage
- The 2024–25 survey used inputs from 86,547 units.