The MSME registration asks for the business activity by NIC code. For educational support services, that activity is 85500.
NIC code · National Industrial Classification 2008
85500 is the 5-digit NIC 2008 code for educational support services: a sub-class of class 8550, educational support services, within division 85, education. Search a code or activity below, or copy the code for your Udyam or SPICe+ form.
This code
Division 85Group 855Class 8550Sub-class 85500
Educational support services
Sub-class 85500 · Class 8550 · Group 855 · Division 85 · Section P, NIC 2008
The code
Where the code sits in the National Industrial Classification 2008, from section to sub-class, in the official wording.
855005 digits: 85 + 5 + 0 + 0NIC 2025 · Notice dated 16 October 2026
On 18 November 2025 the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released NIC 2025, which uses 6-digit codes aligned with the UN's ISIC Revision 5. This page shows the NIC 2008 code 85500. The matching NIC 2025 code will be added here once it is mapped from MoSPI's official concordance.
How to read it
An NIC code is built in layers. Each digit narrows the one before it: the division, the group, the class, and finally the 5-digit sub-class. Divisions themselves are grouped under lettered sections.
The broadest numbered layer. Division 85 covers education. It sits in section P, education.
Educational support services.
Educational support services. The official note for this class is quoted below.
Educational support services. The full 5-digit code you enter where a form asks for the business activity by NIC code.
What it covers
85500 is a sub-class of class 8550, educational support services. The NIC 2008 document explains the class in the note below, quoted exactly.
This class includes the provision of non-instructional services that support educational processes or systems such as educational consulting, guidance counseling services, testing evaluation services etc.
Where you use it
Two registration forms ask for the business activity by NIC code. This is where 85500 is entered.
The MSME registration asks for the business activity by NIC code. For educational support services, that activity is 85500.
The company incorporation form asks for the main industrial activity of the proposed company by NIC code.
Not GST. GST registration does not use NIC codes; goods and services there are classified by HSN and SAC codes.
Questions
Educational support services, in the National Industrial Classification 2008. It is a sub-class of class 8550, educational support services.
In Udyam Registration, which asks for the business activity by NIC code, and in the SPICe+ company incorporation form, which asks for the main industrial activity by NIC code. GST registration does not use NIC codes.
About this page
The section, division, group, class and sub-class on this page, and the explanatory note for class 8550, are taken word for word from the official document “National Industrial Classification (All Economic Activities) 2008”, Central Statistical Organisation, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India.
This is reference information on the classification of a business activity. It is not advice on which code your own business should declare, and the official NIC document prevails if the two ever differ. A change in the classification, including the MoSPI concordance to NIC 2025, re-opens this page for checking.
Not sure which code fits your activity, or spotted a mismatch? Use the WhatsApp button on this page and tell us what the business sells and how.