The factory state that is speeding up.

The ASI 2024-25 Survey counted 24,964 factories in Uttar Pradesh, 9.35% of India's 2,66,931. Of these, 21,559 were in operation. Only Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra have more.

Those factories engaged 18,31,165 people and produced ₹13.11 lakh crore of output, 7.93% of India's total. On value added UP is fifth, after Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. You can compare UP with any State in the appendix.

UP also added factories faster than any of those States. The number in operation rose 14.5%, to 21,559. Its workforce grew 12.6%, second only to Haryana.

The growth lifted UP from fifth to fourth in India for output, inputs and pay, and from sixth to fourth for invested capital. UP used the amended factory definition, 20 or more workers with power, in both years, so the comparison is like for like.

Value added grew more slowly, by 7.0% against India's 9.6%. Almost all of that gap comes from one industry. Value added in coke and refined petroleum went from ₹5,227 crore to −₹10,172 crore. Without it, UP's value added rose 16.7%.

UP's growth mattered for India too. Its factories added ₹2.08 lakh crore of output in 2024-25, 17.4% of India's increase, second only to Tamil Nadu. That is more than twice UP's 7.9% share of India's output.

Three industries did most of the work. Computer, electronic and optical products supplied 34.6% of UP's growth, food products 23.6% and electrical equipment 11.7%: together, 70%. Coke and refined petroleum shrank, taking 8.2% away.

Among the 16 big factory States, only Haryana does better, at ₹4.83. UP also creates more jobs for its capital: 6.0 people for every ₹1 crore of fixed capital, against 4.1 across India.

The average UP factory is leaner than India's. It employs 85 people on ₹14.2 crore of fixed capital and makes ₹60.8 crore of output a year. India's average factory employs 96 on ₹23.4 crore and makes ₹75.6 crore.

UP's biggest industries are also among its most productive. Each person in UP's food factories adds 15% more value than the national average for food products, and in electronics 21% more. Beverages is ahead too. Chemicals is close to India's level, while basic metals and electrical equipment trail it and pull UP's overall average down.

Food products is UP's biggest industry, with 22.0% of its output, and in 2024-25 UP rose from third to first in India for it. UP added ₹49,232 crore of food output, more than any other State and 36.7% of India's increase. Computer, electronic and optical products come next, at 17.7% of UP's output.

Electronics output grew 45.2%, and UP's share of India's output in the industry rose to 30.79%. Tamil Nadu grew faster still and finished 2.2% ahead, so UP moved from first to second. Between them, the two States supplied more than two-thirds of India's ₹2.29 lakh crore jump in electronics output, UP's part being ₹72,148 crore. Electrical equipment grew 47.5%, lifting UP from fifth to fourth.

Workers make up 14.6 lakh of them. 62% of workers are directly employed and the rest come through contractors. Directly employed women number 71,111, up 10.4% in a year.

Pay is rising. Wages per worker reached ₹1,88,182 a year, up 6.7%, the third-fastest rise among the 16 big factory States and faster than India's 5.3%, though still below India's average of ₹2,28,037.

UP's factories also pass a large share of what they earn to their people. Pay and benefits came to 40.8% of net value added in 2024-25, second only to Tamil Nadu among the ten States with the most factory workers, and well above India's 34.9%.

Women are UP's biggest untapped workforce. They make up 7.9% of directly employed factory workers, against 18.1% across India. Garment factories alone employ 30,361 of the 71,111 women, 43% of the total.

UP leans less on contract labour than India, at 38% of workers against 42%. Pay is more unequal, though: the average manager or supervisor earns 8.0 times what a worker does, against 6.4 times across India.

Fixed capital rose 18.6%, to ₹3.06 lakh crore. Output grew a little faster, so each rupee of capital kept working as hard as before. Invested capital, which adds stocks of materials and goods, grew 23.0%, the fastest of the 16 big factory States and twice India's 11.1%.

Of every ₹100 of output, ₹13.64 is value added after paying for materials, fuel and services, and ₹11.74 remains after depreciation.

The fuel bill fell. Factories spent ₹39,373 crore on fuel and power, 3.6% less than in 2023-24, while output grew 18.9%. Each ₹1 of fuel now goes with ₹33.29 of output, up from ₹26.99. Among the 16 big factory States, only Andhra Pradesh improved more.

UP's factories also spend less of their output on energy. Fuel and power take 3.0% of its value, against 3.6% across India, and they buy 194 kWh of electricity for every ₹1 lakh of output, against 235. That comes from what UP makes: electronics and food, its two biggest industries, need little power. Industry by industry, UP's factories use about as much electricity as India's. UP's factories pay less for power on average, ₹7.69 per kWh against ₹8.18, helped by basic-metals plants that buy almost a third of it at just ₹5.52.

Much of the expansion runs on borrowed money. Outstanding loans equal 29.6% of the capital invested in UP's factories, against 22.8% across India, and interest takes 11.8% of their value added, against 8.8%. Net profit comes to 4.8% of output, against 7.0% nationally. Cheaper credit and wider margins are where the next gains could come from.

UP's net value added per person engaged is ₹8.40 lakh, against ₹10.95 lakh for India. Slide to see what closing part of that gap would add with today's workforce. This is arithmetic on the survey's figures, not a forecast.