The MSME registration asks for the business activity by NIC code. For production of charcoal in the forest (using traditional methods), that activity is 02203.
NIC code · National Industrial Classification 2008
02203 is the 5-digit NIC 2008 code for production of charcoal in the forest (using traditional methods): a sub-class of class 0220, logging, within division 02, forestry and logging. Search a code or activity below, or copy the code for your Udyam or SPICe+ form.
This code
Division 02Group 022Class 0220Sub-class 02203
Production of charcoal in the forest (using traditional methods)
Sub-class 02203 · Class 0220 · Group 022 · Division 02 · Section A, NIC 2008
The code
Where the code sits in the National Industrial Classification 2008, from section to sub-class, in the official wording.
022035 digits: 02 + 2 + 0 + 3NIC 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 02203. 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 02 covers forestry and logging. It sits in section A, agriculture, forestry and fishing.
Logging.
Logging. The official note for this class is quoted below.
Production of charcoal in the forest (using traditional methods). The full 5-digit code you enter where a form asks for the business activity by NIC code.
What it covers
02203 is a sub-class of class 0220, logging. The NIC 2008 document explains the class in the note below, quoted exactly.
This class excludes:
- - growing of Christmas trees, see 0129
- - growing of standing timber: planting, replanting, transplanting, thinning and conserving of forests and timber tracts, see 0210
- - gathering of wild growing non-wood forest products, see 0230
- - production of wood chips and particles, see 1610
- - production of charcoal through distillation of wood, see 2011
Where you use it
Two registration forms ask for the business activity by NIC code. This is where 02203 is entered.
The MSME registration asks for the business activity by NIC code. For production of charcoal in the forest (using traditional methods), that activity is 02203.
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.
Choosing the right code
02203 is for production of charcoal in the forest (using traditional methods). The codes below sit closest to it in NIC 2008: the other sub-classes of class 0220. Each has its own page with the official wording.
02209Class 0220 · another sub-class of the same class02201Class 0220 · another sub-class of the same class02202Class 0220 · another sub-class of the same classClass 0220 has 4 sub-classes in NIC 2008, including 02203.
Questions
Production of charcoal in the forest (using traditional methods), in the National Industrial Classification 2008. It is a sub-class of class 0220, logging.
Class 0220, logging, has 4 sub-classes in NIC 2008. Besides 02203, they are: 02209 (Other logging activities, n.e.c.); 02201 (Gathering and preparation of fire wood); 02202 (Logging camps and loggers primarily engaged in felling timber and producing wood in the rough such as pitprops, split poles, pickets, hewn railway ties).
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 0220, 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.