Primarily the Economy of the Moradabad District is Agrarian based while the Economy base of Moradabad city is Small Scale Cottage industry, Commerce & Trade. Major crops are Paddy, Wheat, Sugar cane & Mustard. There is a network of Agro based industries namely Rice & Dal Processing Units and a large no. of Gur & Khandsari Units. Over 15000 Small Scale Industry Units are spread all over the District having more concentration on Urban cities Moradabad & Sambhal. Moradabad city is famous for the Brass Metal Handicrafts and exports to the tune of RS. 2200 Crores on yearly basis. A good no. of Artisans are also engaged in home manufacturing of Horn and Bone handicrafts articles in Sambhal.
 

About 12 lakh metric tons of food grain, 10 thousand metric tons of oil seeds, 90 lakh metric tons of sugar cane & 2.6 lakh metric tons of potatoes are annually produced here and a major part of it is exported to other districts of the state and out of the state.