Industry sector saw estimated employment growth of 7.4% in FY23

India’s industry sector saw an estimated employment growth of 7.4 per cent in the fiscal year 2022-’23 (FY23), which was higher than the previous fiscal, FY22 (7 per cent), according to the annual survey of industries report that has been released by the Ministry Of Statistics.

OVERALL JOB GROWTH DIPS

Although there is a rise in estimated employment growth, overall job growth, according to survey report, is currently not on an upward course. India witnessed lesser increase in terms of workers per factory (4.4 per cent in FY23) compared to last fiscal year’s numbers (7.9 per cent).

The rise in worker wages slowed down, too, from 10 per cent growth in FY22 to 5.5 per cent in FY23. Output per worker also recorded a drop in growth from 25.3 per cent in FY22 to 13.1 per cent in FY23.

GVA ON PRICING FALLS

The report said growth in India’s industrial output was more than a fifth in FY23 in comparison to 35 per cent in FY22. While the numbers suggest the drop registered in the pandemic years has been checked, India’s industry sector has at the same time witnessed a fall in Gross Value Added (GVA) on pricing. The increase in GVA was 27 per cent in FY22, but the percentage of growth dropped to 7.3 in FY23.

The report said the surge in GVA during FY23 was primarily owing to manufacture, in industries such as food products, automobile, metal, refined petroleum, coke, chemical and chemical products. Together, these sectors accounted for nearly 58 per cent of the output.

The growth in manufacturing GVA was 3.1 per cent in FY21 and 10 per cent in FY22, while it fell to 2.2 per cent in FY23, according to National Accounts Statistics.

FACTORY INVESTMENTS UP

India’s factories, however, have continued to invest at a robust rate. The total invested capital of 82,734 factories that the survey considered was Rs 61.4 lakh crore in FY23, a figure substantially more than Rs 55.5 lakh crore in FY22 when 80,764 factories were surveyed. Overall in FY23, invested capital by factories registered a year-on-year growth of 10.7 per cent, compared to 6.8 per cent in FY22.

STATE-WISE DATA

In terms of states, Maharashtra topped the GVA charts in FY23 while Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh completed the top five. The top five states added over 54 per cent of the total manufacturing GVA in the fiscal year.

In terms of generating maximum employment, the top five states in FY23 were Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. Together, the top five states added around 55 per cent of manufacturing employment numbers in the fiscal year under consideration.