Telangana Ranks Fifth in India With 30.7 Percent Industrial Employment

HYDERABAD — Telangana has emerged as one of India’s most industrialised labour markets, ranking fifth among 22 states covered in the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey state-level estimates for the share of workers employed in the industrial sector. The April-June 2026 PLFS data revealed that 30.7 percent of employed persons aged 15 and above in Telangana were engaged in industry, significantly higher than the national average of 26.7 percent.

According to the survey figures, only four states recorded a higher proportion of industrial employment than Telangana among those evaluated in the report. Haryana topped the list with 37.5 percent, followed by Chhattisgarh at 32.9 percent, Odisha at 32.4 percent, and Tamil Nadu at 32.1 percent.

Telangana placed higher than several other major industrial and commercial states across the country. The state ranked ahead of Gujarat, which recorded 29.2 percent industrial employment, as well as Andhra Pradesh at 28.6 percent, Kerala at 25.4 percent, and Karnataka at 21.6 percent.

The survey findings also highlighted Telangana’s comparatively lower reliance on the agricultural sector for workforce employment relative to the rest of India. Nationally, agriculture accounted for 38.7 percent of overall employment. In contrast, only 30.7 percent of Telangana’s employed workforce was engaged in agriculture.

At the same time, the services sector remained the single largest employer within Telangana, accounting for 38.7 percent of the state's total workers. By comparison, the national average for services sector employment stood at 34.6 percent.

Overall, the survey data indicates that nearly seven out of every 10 workers in Telangana are currently employed outside the agricultural sector, underscoring a significantly more diversified economic structure than that of the country as a whole.