Nagpur has been the center of commerce in the Vidarbha region since early days and is an important trading location. However, Nagpur's economic importance had gradually declined relative to Mumbai and Pune after the merging of Vidarbha into the Maharashtra because of a prolonged period of neglect by the state government. Nagpur's economy is now recovering from past slowdown and the city has attracted more than USD $ 1 billion in investment in 2004. During the slowdown, state and central government offices were a major source of employment in the city. Nagpur regional office of Reserve Bank of India was opened on September 10, 1956. The Butibori industrial area is the largest in all of Asia in terms of area. The estate's largest unit is of Indo Rama Synthetics, which manufactures synthetic polyester yarn. Other units in Butibori include the power transmission company KEC, Hyundai Unitech, ACC Nihon Castings Ltd. Koradi Thermal Power Station and Khaparkheda Thermal Power Station are the two major thermal power stations located near Nagpur and operated by MSPGCL.

The Hingna industrial estate located on the western fringes of the city is made up of around 900 small and medium industrial units. The major ones among them are tractor manufacturing plant of Mahindra and Mahindra, casting units of NECO Ltd. (the country's largest casting group), units of International Combustions, Bajaj Auto group, Candico (the SECOND largest confectionery manufacturing plant in India), Ajanta toothbrushes and Sanvijay Group (largest steel rolling group of companies for long products in Central India). Nagpur is home to ice-cream manufacturer Dinshaws, Indian dry food manufacturer Haldiram's and Ayurvedic product company Vicco.

Sitabuldi market in central Nagpur is the main commercial area of city. Currently, Nagpur is witnessing an economic boom as "Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN)" is being developed. MIHAN will be used for handling heavy cargo coming from south east Asia and Middle east Asia. Project will also include USD $ 2.06 billion Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Information Technology (IT) companies. Persistent Systems has one of the software development centers at Nagpur.