Trucks, ships, railway rolling stock, machine tools, electronic equipment, cotton and woolen textiles, and chemicals are the principal industrial products.

The Volga and Oka Rivers are the major water routes, and the Moscow–Volga and Don–Volga canals link Moscow with the Caspian and Baltic Seas.

Companies manufacturing metal-working machines and instruments, steam boilers, turbines, current generators, and electric motors are concentrated in this region.

Chemical industry includes the production of synthetic plastics (in Moscow, Novomoskovsk, Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Vladimir), chemical fibers (in Klin, Ryazan, Tver), rubber resin and tires (in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Yefremov), and fertilizers (in Dorgobuzh, Novomoskovsk, Polpino, Shchyokino, Voskresensk).

Fossil fuel (oil, natural gas, coal) are mostly imported from other regions of Russia (mostly from Komi Republic, Povolzhye, and West Siberia).

As the soils are mostly of podsolic and grey forest types, melioration and fertilizing are often employed to improve the crop yields.