What Businesses Does India Register? Activity Ranking from FY 2016–17
In short
A data-led ranking of business activities behind Company Registration and LLP Registration in India from 2016 to September 2026, from professional services and manufacturing to IT, real estate and education.
Website calculation period: Financial-year research starts on 1 April 2016 (FY 2016–17). January–March 2016 is excluded from website research calculations. Each full financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March. FY 2021–22 has three missing source months; FY 2026–27 covers April–September 2026 only. Missing months are not estimated.
What kinds of businesses has India been registering? Registration Trend analysed and harmonised available MCA incorporation records from 1 April 2016 to 30 September 2026 to rank broad business activities from highest to lowest.
The purpose is to move beyond the usual Company Registration Process, Company Registration Fees and Company Registration Documents discussion and examine what India's formal business-formation data actually contains.
India Business Activity Ranking: FY 2016–17–September 2026
| Rank | Activity and entity split | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Professional, Business & Consultancy Services Private: 2,88,111 OPC: 25,391 Public: 1,920 LLP: 1,07,588 |
4,23,010 |
| 2 | Manufacturing Private: 2,47,337 OPC: 11,829 Public: 2,928 LLP: 67,729 |
3,29,823 |
| 3 | Wholesale & Retail Trade Private: 1,91,296 OPC: 15,815 Public: 1,160 LLP: 82,942 |
2,91,213 |
| 4 | IT, Software, Information & Communication Private: 2,15,558 OPC: 18,226 Public: 497 LLP: 51,300 |
2,85,581 |
| 5 | Construction & Infrastructure Private: 96,804 OPC: 4,548 Public: 865 LLP: 43,882 |
1,46,099 |
| 6 | Real Estate Private: 60,086 OPC: 2,537 Public: 611 LLP: 55,521 |
1,18,755 |
| 7 | Healthcare & Social Work Private: 84,483 OPC: 2,094 Public: 707 LLP: 12,827 |
1,00,111 |
| 8 | Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing Private: 72,844 OPC: 1,714 Public: 412 LLP: 8,336 |
83,306 |
| 9 | Education Private: 56,084 OPC: 4,430 Public: 242 LLP: 15,288 |
76,044 |
| 10 | Community, Personal & Other Services Private: 46,552 OPC: 4,123 Public: 469 LLP: 17,566 |
68,710 |
| 11 | Hotels, Restaurants & Food Service Private: 37,384 OPC: 2,080 Public: 158 LLP: 23,955 |
63,577 |
| 12 | Finance & Insurance Private: 38,370 OPC: 427 Public: 13,459 LLP: 9,929 |
62,185 |
| 13 | Transport, Storage & Logistics Private: 43,238 OPC: 2,788 Public: 318 LLP: 11,262 |
57,606 |
| 14 | Energy, Utilities & Waste Private: 32,017 OPC: 658 Public: 956 LLP: 6,007 |
39,638 |
| 15 | Mining & Quarrying Private: 8,494 OPC: 188 Public: 118 LLP: 3,206 |
12,006 |
| 16 | Other / Unclassified Private: 953 OPC: 55 Public: 34 LLP: 1,512 |
2,554 |
This ranking covers 21,60,218 dated Company and LLP records across available MCA reporting months from 1 April 2016 to 30 September 2026. Foreign Companies are excluded from this activity ranking. Missing source months are not estimated.
Leading activity groups in the financial-year research period
Professional, Business & Consultancy Services: 4,23,010; Manufacturing: 3,29,823; Wholesale & Retail Trade: 2,91,213; IT, Software, Information & Communication: 2,85,581. The four groups represent (61.55%) of the records in this ranking.
Real Estate Stands Out for LLP Registration
Within the available financial-year research period, Real Estate has 60,086 Private Companies and 55,521 LLPs. These counts describe incorporation patterns and do not identify founders’ reasons for choosing a structure.
This does not prove that LLP is the better legal structure for every real-estate business. It shows that actual incorporation behaviour differs materially by business activity.
Education, Healthcare and Agriculture Are Significant Business-Formation Categories
Education, Healthcare & Social Work, and Agriculture remain separate activity categories. Their financial-year research-period counts are shown in the revised ranking above.
Why the Activity Classification Is Harmonised
MCA's activity classifications changed over the period studied. Older monthly files use historical NIC/activity labels while newer reports use revised activity divisions. Registration Trend maps comparable activities into broader analytical groups so that 2016–2026 trends can be studied on a consistent basis.
The harmonised categories are analytical groupings for comparability and should not be read as verbatim MCA labels for every year.
What This Means for Company Registration Research
A Company Registration statistic becomes more useful when we ask what sits behind it: technology, manufacturing, trade, real estate, education, healthcare, construction, finance or another activity. This makes it possible to study not only how many entities India creates, but what kind of economy those new entities represent.
Explore Registration Trend for Monthly Commentary, Annual Commentary and General research on Company Registration, Company Incorporation, Company Formation, LLP Registration and OPC Registration in India.
Read business activity alongside geography
For a state perspective, explore Maharashtra’s Company registration trend from FY 2016–17 onward. A state’s overall registration volume does not identify its leading activity.
A national activity ranking does not show where new Companies are registered. The state-wise Company registration report adds that separate perspective. Do not assume that a state’s leading activity is the same as the national leader: that requires a state-by-activity cross-tabulation.
For historical comparisons, activity classifications and geographic aliases need consistent treatment. Read how CIN-derived state is interpreted.
Data Source and Methodology
Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs monthly incorporation workbooks compiled and analysed for the Registration Trend research database.
Coverage: 1 April 2016 to 30 September 2026, with known missing MCA source months disclosed rather than estimated.
Classification note: Activity groups use the explicit legacy/newer division scopes in the sector guides. The broad IT/Information/Communication group uses legacy divisions 64 and 72 and newer divisions 58–63. Historical publishing/printing stays with legacy Manufacturing, so cross-era boundaries are not identical. Categories are analytical groupings, not measures of active businesses.
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Learn about each structure
Behind every number above is a choice founders made. These lessons explain what each structure is, how it is registered and what it costs to keep running.
