The MSME registration asks for the business activity by NIC code. For materials recovery, that activity is 38300.
NIC code · National Industrial Classification 2008
38300 is the 5-digit NIC 2008 code for materials recovery: a sub-class of class 3830, materials recovery, within division 38, waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery. Search a code or activity below, or copy the code for your Udyam or SPICe+ form.
This code
Division 38Group 383Class 3830Sub-class 38300
Materials recovery
Sub-class 38300 · Class 3830 · Group 383 · Division 38 · Section E, NIC 2008
The code
Where the code sits in the National Industrial Classification 2008, from section to sub-class, in the official wording.
383005 digits: 38 + 3 + 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 38300. 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 38 covers waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery. It sits in section E, water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities.
Materials recovery.
Materials recovery. The official note for this class is quoted below.
Materials recovery. The full 5-digit code you enter where a form asks for the business activity by NIC code.
What it covers
38300 is a sub-class of class 3830, materials recovery. The NIC 2008 document explains the class in the note below, quoted exactly.
This class includes recovery of materials such as paper, plastics, used beverage cans and metals, into distinct categories, from garbage. Also includes the processing of metal and non-metal waste and scrap and other articles into secondary raw material
This class excludes:
- - manufacture of new final products from (whether or not self-manufactured) secondary metal raw materials, such as spinning yarn from garnetted stock, making pulp from paper waste, retreading tyres or production of metal from metal scrap, see corresponding classes in section C (Manufacturing)
- - reprocessing of nuclear fuels, see 2011
- - treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste, see 3821
- - treatment of organic waste for disposal, see 3821
- - energy recovery from non-hazardous waste incineration processes, see 3821
- - disposal of used goods such as refrigerators to eliminate harmful waste, see 3822
- - treatment and disposal of transition radioactive waste from hospitals etc., see 3822
- - treatment and disposal of toxic, contaminated waste, see 3822
- - dismantling of automobiles, computers, televisions and other equipment to obtain and re-sell usable parts, see section G
- - wholesale of recoverable materials, see 4669
Where you use it
Two registration forms ask for the business activity by NIC code. This is where 38300 is entered.
The MSME registration asks for the business activity by NIC code. For materials recovery, that activity is 38300.
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
Materials recovery, in the National Industrial Classification 2008. It is a sub-class of class 3830, materials recovery.
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 3830, 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.