Named Thai Industries Adding the Most Companies in 2026
In short
Investment holding companies added 301 net new filers in the latest filing year, the most of any named Thai industry, as of 17 July 2026. Restaurants added 232, and accounting, bookkeeping and auditing firms added 193. That kind of growth is rare this year. Only 225 of the 997 named industries with comparable data gained filers at all, while 678 lost them and 94 stayed flat. Those top 10 gaining industries alone captured 42.45 percent of every net filer added across the whole set.
Which industry added the most companies this year?
Investment holding companies lead every named Thai industry in filer growth this year, adding a net 301 companies with a filed financial statement, from 4,803 in the prior filing year to 5,104 in the latest one (DBD, 2026). Restaurants come second, adding 232 net filers to reach 18,471. Accounting, bookkeeping and auditing firms add 193 to reach 11,134. Non-alcoholic beverage shops add 140, and retailers of construction materials add 118. No other named industry clears the 100 mark until specialized medical practices, which add 106. Growth this concentrated says something about where Thai business formation is actually happening, and it is not where headline counts suggest.
Net new filers by industry, latest filing year versus prior
- Investment holding companies301
- Restaurants232
- Accounting and auditing firms193
- Non-alcoholic beverage shops140
- Construction materials retailers118
- Financial services auxiliary firms112
- Specialized medical practices106
- Internet retailers90
Figures in net new filers.
Holding companies pull ahead of food service and professional services, the two industries most people would guess first.
Top 10 named industries by net filer growth
| Industry, TSIC code | Section | Prior year filers | Latest year filers | Net added | Growth rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investment holding companies, 64202 | K, Financial and insurance | 4,803 | 5,104 | 301 | 6.27% |
| Restaurants, 56101 | I, Accommodation and food service | 18,239 | 18,471 | 232 | 1.27% |
| Accounting and auditing firms, 69200 | M, Professional, scientific and technical | 10,941 | 11,134 | 193 | 1.76% |
| Non-alcoholic beverage shops, 56302 | I, Accommodation and food service | 1,620 | 1,760 | 140 | 8.64% |
| Construction materials retailers, 47525 | G, Wholesale and retail trade | 3,407 | 3,525 | 118 | 3.46% |
| Financial services auxiliary firms, 66199 | K, Financial and insurance | 1,137 | 1,249 | 112 | 9.85% |
| Specialized medical practices, 86202 | Q, Human health and social work | 1,965 | 2,071 | 106 | 5.39% |
| Internet retailers, 47912 | G, Wholesale and retail trade | 6,437 | 6,527 | 90 | 1.40% |
| Fitness centres, 93112 | R, Arts, entertainment and recreation | 981 | 1,068 | 87 | 8.87% |
| Spas and massage salons, 96101 | S, Other service activities | 1,248 | 1,328 | 80 | 6.41% |
5-digit TSIC industries ranked by companies_latest minus companies_prev, comparing the two most recent filing years as of 17 Jul 2026.
Why this matters
Look past the leaderboard and the real story is scarcity. Among 997 named industries with a comparable prior and latest year, only 225 added any filers at all, 678 lost filers, and 94 held flat. That means roughly seven in ten named industries shrank in filer count this year, even while the top of the list grew fast. The 10 industries above, a tiny fraction of the 225 gainers, accounted for 42.45 percent of every net filer gained across the entire set. Investment holding companies alone made up 95.56 percent of the net gain inside the whole financial and insurance section, so one narrow activity code is carrying an entire section's growth story. That is worth knowing if you assumed growth in Thai company formation is broad based. This year it is a handful of specific activities, not the economy at large.
Definitions
- Net new filer
- The change in the number of companies that filed a financial statement for a given industry code between one filing year and the next, counting both gains and losses.
- Named industry
- A 5-digit TSIC industry code that carries an English description in the registry, as opposed to codes with no description on file.
- Filing year
- The statement year a financial filing covers. Thai registry years are recorded in the Buddhist calendar, so statement year 2568 corresponds to calendar year 2025.
- TSIC code
- Thailand's Standard Industrial Classification code, the government's system for categorizing a company's business activity, used here at the 5-digit level.
Assumptions
- Filer counts reflect companies that filed a financial statement in each year, not the full population of registered companies in that industry.
- A gain in filers can include newly registered companies, previously dormant companies resuming filing, or both, and cannot be split into those components from this data.
- The ranking excludes 11 named industry codes that lacked a usable filer count in one or both of the two most recent filing years.
- Industry codes without an English description in the registry are excluded entirely, since they cannot be named.
Methodology
Net filers added is companies_latest minus companies_prev in the market_trend_explorer table, where companies_latest counts companies with a filed financial statement for statement year 2568 BE, 2025 CE, and companies_prev counts the same for statement year 2567 BE, 2024 CE, drawn from the DBD registry as of 17 July 2026. The ranking covers 5-digit TSIC industry codes that carry an English description, 1,008 of them, and is limited to the 997 with data in both years. A rising filer count reflects newly registered companies filing for the first time, previously dormant companies resuming filing, or both, net of companies that stopped filing. It is not the same as new company registrations alone.
How we verified this
- Investment holding companies growth rate recomputed as 301 divided by 4,803, equal to 6.27 percent.
- Restaurants growth rate recomputed as 232 divided by 18,239, equal to 1.27 percent.
- Accounting and auditing firms growth rate recomputed as 193 divided by 10,941, equal to 1.76 percent.
- Of 997 named industries with data in both years, gainers plus losers plus flat industries were counted as 225 plus 678 plus 94, summing to 997.
- Share of gainers recomputed as 225 divided by 997, equal to 22.57 percent.
- Sum of net additions across the top 10 industries recomputed as 301 plus 232 plus 193 plus 140 plus 118 plus 112 plus 106 plus 90 plus 87 plus 80, equal to 1,459.
- Total net additions across all 225 gaining industries summed to 3,437, so the top 10 share was recomputed as 1,459 divided by 3,437, equal to 42.45 percent.
- Within section K, financial and insurance, the 37 named industries summed to a net gain of 315 filers, so investment holding companies' share of that section gain was recomputed as 301 divided by 315, equal to 95.56 percent.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates by industry code. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- World Bank. (2024). New business density, new registrations per 1,000 people ages 15 to 64, Thailand. World Bank Open Data. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IC.BUS.NDNS.ZS?locations=TH
Frequently asked questions
Which named Thai industry added the most companies this year?
Investment holding companies, TSIC code 64202, added a net 301 companies with a filed financial statement, more than any other named industry.
How does that compare with restaurants and accounting firms?
Restaurants added 232 net filers and accounting, bookkeeping and auditing firms added 193, both behind investment holding companies but well ahead of most other named industries.
Did most Thai industries grow their filer count this year?
No. Of 997 named industries with comparable data, only 225 gained filers, 678 lost filers, and 94 stayed flat.
Does net filer growth mean new company registrations?
Not exactly. It counts the change in companies filing a financial statement year on year, which includes newly registered filers and previously dormant companies that resumed filing, net of companies that stopped.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Named Thai Industries Adding the Most Companies in 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/named-thai-industries-adding-the-most-companies-this-year-2026
Data & corrections
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Written by
Chatpong L.Founder, Max Data, Max Solutions Co., Ltd.
Chatpong L. leads Max Data, a company-intelligence platform built on Thailand's official business registry. He writes about the structure of the Thai economy using primary registry data. His work covers company formation, industry concentration, and regional business activity.
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This page reports company-level and aggregate statistics only. It names no individuals and makes no claims about any person. Figures are provided for information and may be revised as source data updates.