A narrow industrial footprint: Where are the Women in India’s formal manufacturing workforce?

According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023-24, agriculture, industry and services accounted for 46.1 percent, 24.1 percent and 29.7 percent of India’s total employment, respectively. Within industry, manufacturing and construction accounted for 11.4 percent and 12.0 percent of total employment, respectively, while mining and quarrying and electricity, gas and water supply together accounted for just 0.7 percent. While manufacturing accounts for a relatively modest share of overall employment, it is a distinct source of organised industrial employment, making it a useful lens through which to examine women’s participation in formal employment. This article traces women’s representation in India’s formal manufacturing workforce from 2000 to 2024, examines the role of the leading states in shaping this workforce over the same period, and compares the distribution of female and male employment across industries in 2024.

It draws on the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), accessed through CEDA’s Economic Enterprise Tracker, the principal source of official statistics on India’s organised manufacturing sector. Conducted annually by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the ASI provides detailed information on manufacturing establishments, including employment, wages, output, and other characteristics. As the ASI reports gender-disaggregated employment data only for directly employed workers, our  analysis in this article is restricted to this category of workers  and excludes contract workers and staff employed in clerical, supervisory, managerial, sales, and watch-and-ward roles.

Women have accounted for roughly one-fifth of India’s formal manufacturing workforce since 2000

Figure 1 shows that the gender composition of India’s formal manufacturing workforce remained broadly unchanged between 2000 and 2024, with men consistently accounting for around four-fifths of directly employed workers. Women’s share increased gradually from 17.5 percent in 2000 to a peak of 21.8 percent in 2014. However, these gains were not sustained, with women’s share declining to 18.1 percent by 2024, equivalent to approximately one woman for every 4.5 directly employed men.

In 2024, six states accounted for more than three-quarters of India’s female formal manufacturing workforce

Figure 2 highlights the geographic concentration of India’s female formal manufacturing workforce in 2024. Tamil Nadu alone accounted for 40.3 percent of all women directly employed in the sector, indicating that two out of every five female formal manufacturing workers in the country were employed in the state. Karnataka was a distant second, accounting for 14 percent, followed by Andhra Pradesh (7.1 percent), Gujarat (5.6 percent), Maharashtra (5.1 percent), and Kerala (5.1 percent). Collectively, these six states accounted for more than three-quarters (77.1 percent) of India’s female formal manufacturing workforce, while the top ten states together accounted for 83.6 percent.

Tamil Nadu has accounted for around two out of every five female formal manufacturing workers for much of the past two decades

Figure 3 traces the state-wise distribution of India’s female formal manufacturing workforce across the six leading states identified in Figure 2 between 2000 and 2024. Tamil Nadu remained the largest contributor throughout the period, with its share increasing from 36 percent in 2000 to 40.3 percent in 2024. Throughout the period, the state accounted for nearly two out of every five women employed in India’s formal manufacturing sector, with its share peaking at 46.3 percent in 2016. Karnataka emerged as the second-largest contributor from 2007 onwards, with its share fluctuating between 12 percent and 18 percent over the period. Kerala, which was among the largest contributors in the early years, registered a decline in its share, from 16.2 percent in 2000 to 5.1 percent in 2024. Maharashtra similarly experienced a long-term decline, with its share falling by half from 10.1 percent in 2000 to 5.1 percent in 2024. In contrast, Gujarat’s share increased from 3.1 percent in 2000 to 5.6 percent in 2024, with the increase becoming more pronounced in the latter part of the period.

Women made up nearly one-third of workers in textiles and one-quarter in food manufacturing in 2024

Figure 4 shows the share of women workers across formal manufacturing industries in 2024. Women’s representation was highest in textiles, textile products, and leather & footwear, where nearly one in every three workers (32.8 percent) was a woman. This was followed by food, beverages, and tobacco, where women accounted for one in every four workers (25.3 percent), while electrical and optical equipment recorded almost one woman for every five workers (18.9 percent). Beyond these industries, women’s representation was below the national share of women in formal manufacturing employment (18.1 percent), at around one in six workers (15.8 percent) in chemicals and chemical products and one in eight (13.3 percent) in manufacturing n.e.c. and recycling, and below one in ten across most other industries. The lowest share was recorded in coke, refined petroleum, and nuclear fuel, where women accounted for just one in 35 workers (2.8 percent).

Nearly half of India’s female formal manufacturing workforce is in textiles

Figure 5 shows the share of India’s female formal manufacturing workforce across industries in 2024. Textiles, textile products, and leather & footwear accounted for nearly half of all female formal manufacturing workers (49.4 percent), followed by food, beverages, and tobacco, which accounted for 19.1 percent. Together, these two industry groups employed more than two-thirds (68.5 percent) of India’s female formal manufacturing workforce. Chemicals and chemical products accounted for a further 7.2 percent, while electrical and optical equipment accounted for 5.6 percent. Each of the remaining industries contributed less than three percent of the country’s female formal manufacturing workforce, with coke, refined petroleum, and nuclear fuel accounting for just 0.1 percent.

Male formal manufacturing employment was spread across a broader industrial base

Figure 6 shows that the male formal manufacturing workforce was distributed across a broader range of industries in 2024. Textiles, textile products, and leather & footwear accounted for the largest share (22.3 percent), followed by food, beverages, and tobacco (12.4 percent) and basic metals and fabricated metal products (12.3 percent). Together, these three industries accounted for 47 percent, or nearly one in every two male formal manufacturing workers.

India’s manufacturing ambitions will depend not only on expanding the sector, but also on how the structure of that expansion shapes employment opportunities for women. The evidence points to a formal manufacturing workforce in which women’s employment remains concentrated in particular states and industries, making the location and composition of manufacturing growth important to the future trajectory of women’s participation. As India looks ahead to the next phase of manufacturing growth, bringing more women into sustained formal employment will be an important part of shaping a more broad-based industrial workforce.

CEDA’s Economic Enterprises Data Tracker brings India’s formal and informal enterprises into a single, comparable view. Drawing on ASI, ASUSE, and earlier NSS rounds, it standardises key indicators on investment, productivity, credit, employment, and enterprise characteristics. Users can explore each survey separately or compare trends across sectors using harmonised data. With interactive charts, state-level insights, and downloadable datasets, the tracker provides a clearer, consolidated view of India’s enterprise economy for research and policy use.