The Indian manufacturing sector has not increased its share in output or employment along expected lines. The aggregate trends in this sector at the 3-digit level of the National Industrial Classification from 1983 to 2017 are investigated here. Using data from the Annual Survey of Industries obtained from theEPWRFITS, it identifies three sub-periods within the overall period: 1988–96, 1996–2006, and 2006–17. A shift-share decomposition is used to show that most of the decline in the labour to capital ratio can be explained by within-industry changes. Finally, industries are analysed with respect to their capacity to deliver job and wage growth.