Indian Auto-Component Plants by the Numbers: Output per Person, Labour Share and Capital by State (ASI 2023-24)
How productive is India's auto-component industry? In 2023-24 India's 5,753 registered auto-parts factories (NIC 2930) produced ₹10.9 lakh of gross value added per person engaged, per MoSPI's Annual Survey of Industries 2023-24. Labour cost took 40% of that value added and 8.3% of output, and 59% of workers came through contractors.
Last checked: 20 Oct 2026
By the Mama Editorial Team. Every figure below is computed from published MoSPI tables (state and industry aggregates only, no unit-level data). Ratios are ours; the inputs are MoSPI's.
Verified against
- MoSPI, Annual Survey of Industries 2023-24, Volume I (NSO, Enterprise Survey Division, Kolkata): Table 1 (4-digit NIC, all-India, PDF pp. T1-7, T1-8, T1-12), Table 2 (3-digit NIC by state, T2-50 to T2-144), Table 3 and Table 4 (employment and labour cost, T3-7 to T3-12, T4-50 to T4-144), Annexure IV (concepts). microdata.gov.in, catalogue 256. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
- MoSPI, Factsheet ASI 2024-25 and press note of 30 Sep 2026. Checked 20 Oct 2026.
Why 2023-24 and not 2024-25: as of 20 Oct 2026 the microdata.gov.in ASI catalogue lists Volume I tables up to 2023-24 only; the 2024-25 release so far gives national and industry-division totals.
Auto parts and feeder trades: the per-person numbers (ASI 2023-24)
All values at current prices for the accounting year April 2023 to March 2024, per ASI 2023-24 Volume I, Tables 1 and 3. "Labour cost" = wages, salaries, bonus and employer contributions (PF, ESI etc.) for all employees.
| Segment (NIC-2008) | Factories (no.) | Persons per operating factory | GVA per person (₹ lakh) | Net fixed capital per person (₹ lakh) | Labour cost per person (₹ lakh/yr) | Labour cost, % of GVA | Labour cost, % of output | Fuel, % of output | Contract share of workers (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2930 Auto parts & accessories | 5,753 | 206 | 10.92 | 11.85 | 4.41 | 40.3 | 8.3 | 2.33 | 59.2 |
| 2591 Forging, pressing, stamping, powder metallurgy | 1,460 | 71 | 9.41 | 15.88 | 4.14 | 44.0 | 7.6 | 5.45 | 45.2 |
| 2431 Iron and steel castings | 3,947 | 91 | 10.72 | 13.91 | 3.44 | 32.1 | 5.0 | 5.85 | 46.5 |
| 2432 Non-ferrous castings | 648 | 84 | 7.69 | 9.91 | 3.51 | 45.6 | 5.3 | 3.93 | 54.5 |
| 2220 Plastics products (all uses) | 13,105 | 75 | 8.97 | 16.45 | 3.34 | 37.2 | 6.5 | 4.02 | 43.1 |
| 2910 Motor vehicles (OEMs, for contrast) | 244 | 1,196 | 38.62 | 44.34 | 9.37 | 24.3 | 3.5 | 0.53 | 44.4 |
| All ASI factories | 2,60,061 | 92 | 12.55 | 23.61 | 4.09 | 32.6 | 5.2 | 3.93 | 41.6 |
The full rows, including output, plant and machinery at gross value, worker wages and ASI profit, are in the CSV download.
Three readings for an owner. An auto-parts plant creates about ₹10.9 lakh of value added per person a year against ₹38.6 lakh at the vehicle makers it supplies (ASI 2023-24, Table 1). Labour cost eats 40% of the parts plant's value added, against 24% at the OEM. And parts plants run on less capital per person (₹11.9 lakh net) than the all-factory average (₹23.6 lakh), so output depends more on how people and machines spend their hours than on the machines themselves.
Where states differ: auto parts (NIC 293) in five states
Per ASI 2023-24 Volume I, Tables 2 and 4. NIC group 293 contains only class 2930, so these rows add up to the all-India 2930 line.
| State | Factories (no.) | Persons engaged (no.) | GVA per person (₹ lakh) | Labour cost per person (₹ lakh/yr) | Worker wages (₹/worker/month) | Labour cost, % of GVA | Contract share of workers (%) | ASI profit, % of output |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tamil Nadu | 1,361 | 2,49,527 | 10.72 | 4.58 | 20,300 | 42.7 | 46.9 | 7.3 |
| Maharashtra | 1,237 | 2,13,691 | 12.96 | 4.73 | 22,000 | 36.5 | 71.5 | 10.3 |
| Haryana | 850 | 2,04,584 | 10.89 | 4.65 | 16,900 | 42.6 | 63.4 | 7.3 |
| Karnataka | 443 | 81,449 | 6.59 | 4.62 | 24,700 | 70.2 | 60.9 | 0.4 |
| Gujarat | 292 | 37,306 | 10.21 | 3.48 | 17,700 | 34.1 | 64.0 | 9.1 |
| All-India | 5,753 | 10,37,635 | 10.92 | 4.41 | 19,400 | 40.3 | 59.2 | 8.3 |
Worker wages = wages and salary paid to workers (excluding bonus and employer contributions) divided by the number of workers, per ASI Table 4. ASI profit is net income minus compensation of employees, before tax, per the Volume I concepts annexure, so it is not the same line as a company's PAT.
Tamil Nadu is the largest auto-parts state by factories and persons engaged in 2023-24 (1,361 factories, 2.50 lakh people, ASI Table 2 and 4). Maharashtra has the highest value added per person of the five, ₹12.96 lakh, and the highest contract share, 71.5%. Karnataka pays the most per worker in this group, ₹24,700 a month, while generating the lowest value added per person, ₹6.59 lakh; labour cost there takes 70% of value added. Gujarat is not a top-five auto-parts state by persons engaged: Uttar Pradesh (44,180) and Uttarakhand (43,173) are larger, per ASI 2023-24 Table 4. Tamil Nadu is the only one of the five where directly employed workers (1.08 lakh) outnumber contract workers (0.96 lakh), per ASI Table 4.
Women are a small share of the directly employed auto-parts workforce: 28,050 of 3,47,500 directly employed workers in NIC 2930 in 2023-24, or 8.1%, against 18.1% across all ASI factories (Table 3).
The 2024-25 headline numbers
Motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (NIC 29, which includes parts) contributed 9.54% of all-India factory GVA in 2024-25, second only to basic metals, per the ASI 2024-25 factsheet, Table 4. The same table gives NIC 29 an 8.38% share of output and 7.05% of persons engaged; the press note of 30 Sep 2026 puts NIC 29 employment at 14.80 lakh persons. Across all ASI factories, wages to workers rose 13.03% in 2024-25 while output rose 7.81%, per the factsheet, and total emoluments rose 12.08%, so pay took a larger share of output in 2024-25 than in 2023-24.
Benchmarking your own plant against these numbers
Take three lines from your last audited year and divide by your headcount including contract workers:
- GVA per person = (sales + closing minus opening finished-goods stock) minus (materials, fuel, power, consumables, job-work and repairs), divided by persons engaged.
- Labour cost share = total wages, salaries, bonus, PF and ESI (contract-labour bills included) divided by that GVA.
- Net fixed assets per person = written-down value of plant, building and tooling divided by persons engaged.
Worked example, all figures assumed: a Tamil Nadu sheet-metal parts plant with 400 persons engaged and ₹32 crore of GVA has ₹8.0 lakh GVA per person. The Tamil Nadu NIC 293 average is ₹10.72 lakh (ASI 2023-24). The gap is ₹2.72 lakh × 400 = ₹10.9 crore of value added a year that the average state plant extracts from the same headcount.
| Line (assume a 400-person TN plant) | Your plant | TN NIC 293 average (ASI 2023-24) | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| GVA per person (₹ lakh) | 8.0 | 10.72 | 2.72 |
| Annual GVA at 400 persons (₹ crore) | 32.0 | 42.9 | 10.9 |
| Labour cost at 400 persons (₹ crore; your plant assumed ₹4.6 lakh/person, TN ASI ₹4.58 lakh) | 18.4 | 18.3 | — |
| Labour cost, % of GVA | 57.5 | 42.7 | 14.8 points |
When labour cost is fixed, the main lever on a gap like this is more saleable hours from the same people and machines, alongside price and material yield. That is the subject of the auto-component guide to selling more machine hours; the machine hour rate guide shows how to price the hours you never sold.
What the averages hide on a factory floor
- No size bands. ASI 2023-24 Volume I publishes averages by industry and state; it has no split by factory size, so it cannot tell you what the best or worst 10% of parts plants achieve (contents of Volume I, checked 20 Oct 2026).
- Product mix moves the ratio. A machined-casting plant and a wiring-harness plant both sit in NIC 2930; harness work is labour-heavy, so its labour share will sit well above 40% without any inefficiency.
- Contract labour sits in two places. ASI counts contract workers in persons engaged; if your books carry the contractor's bill under "job work" instead of wages, re-class it before comparing. The contract labour headcount guide covers the attendance side of that check.
- Current prices. All values are nominal for 2023-24; inflate by your own price changes before comparing a 2025-26 year.
- Feeder trades are mixed. NIC 2220 plastics and 2431 castings include non-automotive plants; read them as trade benchmarks, not auto-only figures.
Questions to take to your CA
Ask for GVA computed the ASI way (output minus total inputs, before depreciation), labour cost including contract-labour bills, and persons engaged as an annual average rather than a year-end headcount. Those three choices change the ratio more than any operating improvement in a single year.
Where Mama fits
Value added per person rises when machines run more of the hours already paid for. Mama reads a plant's existing cameras and sends the owner a short morning note on where machine hours went idle yesterday, counting machines and flows, not individuals. See askthemama.com or leave an email or phone in the form below.
FAQ
What is the average salary in the auto component industry in India?
Wages and salary paid to workers in auto-parts factories (NIC 2930) averaged about ₹19,400 per worker per month in 2023-24, excluding bonus and employer contributions, per ASI 2023-24 Table 3. Total labour cost per person engaged, including supervisors and PF/ESI, was ₹4.41 lakh a year.
Which state has the most auto component manufacturers in India?
Tamil Nadu: 1,361 auto-parts factories and 2.50 lakh persons engaged in 2023-24, ahead of Maharashtra (1,237 factories) and Haryana (850), per ASI 2023-24 Table 2.
How much value does the auto component industry add in India?
Registered auto-parts factories produced ₹5.50 lakh crore of output and ₹1.13 lakh crore of gross value added in 2023-24, per ASI 2023-24 Table 1. GVA was 20.6% of output.