Daman, has been infamous as a heaven for smugglers in the recent past and now this menace has totally been overcome and the industrial development has taken place in a considerable manner improving the life style of the common people. Primarily the economy is based on fishery and agriculture but increasing tourism of late is significantly contributing to the economy of this Union Territory. Being a Union Territory, Daman enjoys a lot of tax concessions which makes it the investors favoured destination.

As the farming area is scarce, for increasing agricultural production, area under double cropping has seen a significant increase and has been provided with adequate irrigation facilities. The net cultivated area is 5600 hectares which forms over 75 percent of the district’s geographical area. Paddy, cereal and small millets, fruits ike chickoo, mango and banana are the important field and garden crops. Cattle, buffaloes, goats are the main livestock of the district and the milk production is over 300 tonnes. The area under forest is 186 hectares, about 2.6 percent of the total area.

Fishing is the main economic activity. About 40 percent of total population is engaged in this business. Prawns, Bombay duck, pomfret, ghol, dara, lobster, silver fish, shark and cat fish are the main fish catch which has good market value in the national and international market. The annual fish production in Daman is estimated to be about 4,000 tonnes with the market value of about Rs.15 crores. There are 455 number of fishing vessels and mechanized boats and other requisites are provided by the Fisheries Department, Daman.

The total number of registered industrial units in Daman District is 2400 with capital investment of about Rs.2070 crores functioning primarily in the industrial estates of Dabhel, Bhimpore and Kadaiya. The important commodities manufactured are chemicals, medicines, packaging products, country liquor, IMFL and beer. Royal distilleries and Blossom Industries of Khemani Group are two state-of-the-art modern distillation and brewery plants producing quality liquor and beer in Daman. There are 8 scheduled and 2 co-operative banks operating at Daman.