India has 7.34 cr unincorporated non-agri firms, 12.25% more than previous year

India saw the total number of its unincorporated non-agricultural enterprises touch 7.34 crore in 2023-24, a 12.84% growth as compared to the 6.5 crore establishments that were in existence in the country a year ago (in 2022-23), the just-released results of the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) says.

Enterprises in the manufacturing sector showed a 13% increase, while enterprises offering ‘other services’, recorded a growth of 23.55%, ASUSE 2023-24 shows. The reference period for the current survey, carried out by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), is October 2023 – September 2024.

Driven by a 26.17% growth in other services sectors, the Gross Value Added (GVA) — a key indicator of economic performance — rose by 16.52% during the same period. Gross Value Added (GVA) per worker which is a measure of labour productivity of the sector, rose 5.62% to ₹1,49,742 in 2023-24 from ₹1,41,769 in 2022-23 in current prices. During the same period, the Gross Value of Output (GVO) per establishment also increased from ₹4,63,389 to ₹4,91,862 in current prices, a statement issued by MoSPI says.

ASUSE 2023-24 also indicates that the unincorporated sector employed more than 12 crore workers between October 2023 and September 2024, marking an increase of more than one crore workers from 2022-23. The percentage of female-owned proprietary establishments increased from 22.9% in 2022-23 to 26.2% in 2023-24. The average emolument per hired worker increased by 13% in 2023-24 compared to the previous year, and the percentage of establishments using the internet grew from 21.1% in 2022-23 to 26.7% in ASUSE 2023-24.

ASUSE is carried out with the primary objective of measuring various economic and operational characteristics of unincorporated non-agricultural establishments in manufacturing, trade and other service sectors (excluding construction). The survey collects data on various economic characteristics of this sector including the number of workers, GVA, emoluments paid, fixed assets owned, and outstanding loans, besides different types of operational characteristics such as type of ownership, nature of operation, registration status, use of ICT, etc. In ASUSE 2023-24, data were collected from a total of 4,98,024 establishments covering both rural and urban parts of the country.