Industry development indicators refer to a set of measures used to assess the performance and growth of industries. The main aim of this study was to assess the relationship between industry development indicators in Ethiopia using a multivariate GARCH model based on World Bank data from 1982 to 2021. A time series technique using annual data for the period 1982–2021 is utilized, and multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity was performed for volatility modeling. The results of the diagonal BEKK (1, 1)-GARCH model showed that there is strong evidence for a GARCH effect and the presence of a weaker ARCH effect, Equations show a statistically significant co-variation in shocks, which depends more on their lags than on past errors. Consequently, development indicator shocks are influenced by past information. The cross-volatility effects are higher than the own-volatility effects in Industry GDP, manufacturing GDP, and manufacturing exports. However, past volatility shocks in industry growth have less effect on cross-volatility than its own volatility shock. The implication of the study is that both domestic policymakers and development partners should support and motivate the growth of manufacturing sectors and manufacturing exports, since this is a necessary condition for promoting industry growth.