Thai Industry Sections Ranked by Average Debt Per Company 2026
In short
Financial and insurance companies carry an implied 1.33 billion baht of debt per company, the heaviest load of any Thai industry section as of 17 July 2026. That is nearly seven times the next heaviest sector, electricity and gas, at 190.39 million baht. Mining and education both average more than 100 million baht too. Households, by contrast, average just 246,408 baht, a gap of more than five thousand times against finance. Implied debt here means average total assets minus average total equity, a proxy for how much of the balance sheet rests on liabilities rather than owners capital.
Which Thai industry section carries the most debt per company?
Financial and insurance firms top the list with an implied 1.33 billion baht of debt per company, calculated as average total assets minus average total equity across the sector (DBD, 2026). Electricity and gas ranks second at 190.39 million baht, then mining and quarrying at 114.81 million baht and education at 107.77 million baht. Manufacturing rounds out the top five at 88.55 million baht. Every one of those five sectors carries more implied debt per company than the 21-section median. At the bottom sits households as employers of domestic staff, where the average entity carries just 246,408 baht, a fraction of a percent of the finance figure.
Implied debt per company, top 10 industry sections
- Financial and insurance1,326
- Electricity and gas190
- Mining and quarrying115
- Education108
- Manufacturing89
- Real estate51
- Information and communication49
- Water supply and waste management38
- Transportation and storage34
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing34
Figures in million baht implied debt per company.
Finance sits in a class of its own. It alone carries more implied debt per company than the next nine sectors combined.
Education is the sector that surprises
Education has no obvious reason to sit fourth on this list, above manufacturing, real estate and even transport. The driver is thin equity, not thick assets. Average total assets per school or training provider run to 114.49 million baht, yet average total equity is only 6.72 million baht, a ratio of about 17 baht of assets for every baht the owners put in. Compare that with mining, where implied debt equals only about a third of assets and equity funds the rest. A campus, a fleet of vehicles or dormitory buildings get financed mostly through liabilities rather than paid in capital, and that shows up directly in the implied debt figure.
Implied debt per company, all 21 industry sections
| Industry section | Implied debt per company | Companies with data |
|---|---|---|
| Financial and insurance | 1.33 billion baht | 25,720 |
| Electricity and gas | 190.39 million baht | 6,211 |
| Mining and quarrying | 114.81 million baht | 3,579 |
| Education | 107.77 million baht | 10,012 |
| Manufacturing | 88.55 million baht | 148,775 |
| Real estate | 51.34 million baht | 108,572 |
| Information and communication | 48.57 million baht | 38,810 |
| Water supply and waste management | 38.21 million baht | 3,528 |
| Transportation and storage | 33.78 million baht | 51,510 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 33.69 million baht | 12,067 |
| Accommodation and food service | 28.83 million baht | 59,330 |
| Human health and social work | 24.84 million baht | 13,183 |
| Administrative and support | 21.99 million baht | 68,347 |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 20.33 million baht | 424,646 |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 18.67 million baht | 13,177 |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 14.25 million baht | 99,165 |
| Construction | 10.15 million baht | 162,154 |
| Public administration* | 9.37 million baht | 17 |
| Other service activities | 5.61 million baht | 13,933 |
| Extraterritorial organizations* | 1.10 million baht | 3 |
| Households* | 246,408 baht | 11 |
Average total assets minus average total equity, ranked descending, as of 17 Jul 2026. Sections marked with an asterisk report on fewer than 20 companies and should be read with caution.
Why this matters
Implied debt is a balance sheet gap, not a loan ledger. It captures every liability a company reports, trade payables and provisions included, not just interest bearing bank loans or bonds. Thailand's listed companies held a stable debt to equity ratio of 0.7 as of the second quarter of 2024, yet the central bank still singled out some large corporates for accumulating debt despite strong liquidity, a reminder that a debt heavy balance sheet is a live financial stability question well beyond banks and insurers (Bank of Thailand, 2024). What the registry adds is scale by sector. A bank or insurer holds customer deposits and policy reserves as liabilities against a comparatively thin equity base, which is exactly why finance dwarfs every other section here. A lender assessing counterparty risk in education, mining or utilities should treat these averages as a starting point for how debt heavy a typical firm in that sector already is, then dig into the individual company before extending credit.
Definitions
- Implied debt
- Average total assets minus average total equity for a group of companies. It approximates total liabilities per company, including trade payables and provisions, not only bank loans or bonds.
- Average total assets
- The mean value of total assets reported on the balance sheet, taken across all companies in a section that filed an asset figure.
- Average total equity
- The mean value of shareholders equity reported on the balance sheet, taken across all companies in a section that filed an equity figure.
- Companies with data
- The count of companies within a section whose filed statements supplied the figures used to compute that section's averages. This can be smaller than the section's total registered company count.
- Assets to equity ratio
- Total assets divided by total equity for a company or sector average. A higher ratio means a thinner equity cushion relative to the balance sheet.
Assumptions
- Implied debt is total assets minus total equity, a balance sheet proxy, and is not a direct report of interest bearing bank loans or bonds outstanding.
- Only companies that filed both an asset figure and an equity figure feed each section's averages, so the reporting base differs by sector and is shown in the table.
- Public administration, extraterritorial organizations and households rest on fewer than 20 reporting companies each, so their averages carry high sampling uncertainty and are marked in the table.
- Sections are the 21-letter TSIC industry classification used by the DBD registry, not the finer 5-digit industry codes.
Methodology
Implied debt per company is average total assets minus average total equity for each TSIC industry section, drawn from sector level aggregates built on the DBD backed company registry as of 17 July 2026. Both averages are computed only across companies within a section that filed the relevant balance sheet figure, so the reporting base, the count of companies with data, differs by section and is shown alongside each figure. This is a balance sheet proxy for how debt heavy a sector is, not a report of interest bearing borrowing, since total liabilities include trade payables, provisions and other non loan items alongside debt.
How we verified this
- Financial and insurance implied debt was recomputed as average total assets 1,812,807,182 baht minus average total equity 486,383,073 baht, equal to 1,326,424,109 baht, rounded to 1.33 billion.
- Electricity and gas implied debt was recomputed as 392,033,078 baht minus 201,641,055 baht, equal to 190,392,023 baht, rounded to 190.39 million.
- The ratio between financial and insurance and electricity and gas was recomputed as 1,326,424,109 divided by 190,392,023, equal to 6.97, confirming finance carries more than six times the next heaviest sector.
- Households implied debt was recomputed as average total assets 1,391,899 baht minus average total equity 1,145,491 baht, equal to 246,408 baht.
- The ratio between financial and insurance and households was recomputed as 1,326,424,109 divided by 246,408, equal to about 5,383 times.
- Education's assets to equity ratio was recomputed as average total assets 114,494,172 baht divided by average total equity 6,720,637 baht, equal to about 17 baht of assets per baht of equity.
- Mining's implied debt to assets ratio was recomputed as 114,811,719 baht divided by average total assets 337,164,555 baht, equal to about 0.34, confirming implied debt covers roughly a third of assets there.
- The next nine sectors after finance were summed at 707.12 million baht, which is less than finance's own 1,326.42 million baht, confirming finance alone outweighs those nine sectors combined.
- All 21 industry sections were re-sorted by implied debt in descending order and the sequence was checked against the published table.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- Bank of Thailand. (2024). Financial stability review 2024. https://www.bot.or.th/content/dam/bot/documents/en/research-and-publications/reports/financial-stability-report/FS_Review_2024e.pdf
Frequently asked questions
Which Thai industry section carries the most debt per company?
Financial and insurance, with an implied 1.33 billion baht of debt per average company as of 17 July 2026, calculated as average total assets minus average total equity.
What does implied debt per company mean?
It is average total assets minus average total equity for a section. It is a balance sheet proxy for how debt heavy a sector is, not a direct count of bank loans or bonds outstanding.
Why does education carry so much implied debt?
Education companies average 114.49 million baht in assets against only 6.72 million baht in equity, about 17 baht of assets for every baht the owners contributed, so most of the balance sheet is financed through liabilities.
Which sector carries the least debt per company?
Households as employers of domestic staff, at just 246,408 baht per company, though that figure rests on only 11 companies with filed data and should be read with caution.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Thai Industry Sections Ranked by Average Debt Per Company 2026. Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/thai-industry-sections-with-the-most-debt-per-company-2026
Data & corrections
Download the data (CSV)Spot something off, or want to ask about the data? Email insights@maxsolutions.co.th. We publish corrections.
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.