Figure 1 illustrates the percentages of female headed proprietary establishments across different broad activity categories over the two survey periods (ASUSE 2023-24 and ASUSE 2025).
60% of manufacturing units are led by female entrepreneurs
Over 50% of traders use internet to run businesses
Snapshot:
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The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the key results of the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) for the reference period of January 2025 to December 2025 (ASUSE 2025) in the form of a factsheet, on 24th March 2026 through a press note. The detailed report and unit level data of the survey are now being released through this press note. These are now available in the website of the Ministry (https://www.mospi.gov.in). Further, interactive tables and visualizations on previous ASUSE results may be accessed on the Data Catalogue section of https://esankhyiki.mospi.gov.in/.
A brief overview of the survey in terms of coverage, sampling strategy, data collection mechanism, etc., is provided in the Endnote.
The unincorporated non-agricultural sector is a vital component of the Indian economy, generating large-scale employment, supporting livelihoods, and contributing significantly to GDP while complementing the organized sector. ASUSE captures key economic and operational characteristics of establishments in manufacturing, trade, and services (excluding construction). It provides essential data for policymaking, National Accounts Statistics, and informed decision-making by ministries such as MSME and Textiles.
Key highlights from ASUSE 2025 results
ASUSE 2025 results highlight significant growth in all important metrics in the unincorporated non-agricultural sector over ASUSE 2023-24, reflecting the sector’s resilience and sustained momentum.
Growth in Establishments and Gross Value Added
The total number of establishments in the sector increased substantially from 7.34 crore in ASUSE 2023-24 (Oct 23 – Sept 24) to 7.92 crore in ASUSE 2025 (Jan 25 -Dec 25), representing a healthy 7.97% growth. Among the broad sectors covered, the number of establishments in the “Other Services’ sector recorded a robust growth of 10.29%, followed by a 6.48% increase witnessed by the Manufacturing sector and 6.18% by Trade sector.
Around half of the establishments in this sector were engaged in either retail trade (around 26%) or in manufacturing of wearing apparel (around 12%) or other community, social and personal service activities (around 12%) according to ASUSE 2025. Among the major states, the highest number of establishments (rural and urban combined) has been reported in Uttar Pradesh, followed by West Bengal and Maharashtra during the same period.
During the same period, the Gross Value Added (GVA), which is a key indicator of economic performance, rose by 10.87% in current prices, driven by 16.77% growth in trade sector followed by 8.52% growth in manufacturing and 7.36% growth in other services sectors.
Labour Market Expansion with Rising Share of Female Workers and Proprietors
The unincorporated non-agricultural sector employed about 12.81 crore workers between January 2025 and December 2025, adding more than 74.52 lakh jobs from 2023-24 (Oct 23 – Sept 24), reflecting robust labour market expansion. More than one-third of this workforce was engaged in the states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra.
Female workers accounted for about 29% of the total workforce in the sector. Of the total female workers, nearly 22% were engaged in the manufacturing of wearing apparel. Additionally, female proprietors headed over 60% of establishments in the manufacturing sector. Overall, the percentage of female headed proprietary establishments increased marginally from 26.17% in ASUSE 2023-24 to 26.93% in ASUSE 2025. These trends indicate a notable presence and growing participation of women in the unincorporated sector, both as workers and as entrepreneurs reflecting increasing role of the sector in women empowerment. Nearly 72 percent of female-led hired-worker establishments engaged at least one female hired worker, highlighting their role in generating employment opportunities for women.
Top Three Activity Categories: Share of Establishments and Workers
Among the activity categories, it is observed that other retail trade, manufacturing of wearing apparel and other community, social and personal services have reported the largest number of establishments and engaged maximum number of workers at all-India level in ASUSE 2025. The percentage share of these three activity categories in estimated number of total establishments and total workers is given in Table 1.
| Table1: Percentage share of establishments and workers in respect of top 3 activity categories
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| Activity Category | Number of Establishments | Number of Workers | ||
| ASUSE 23-24 | ASUSE 2025 | ASUSE 23-24 | ASUSE 2025 | |
| Other Retail Trade | 27.07 | 26.49 | 27.46 | 27.55 |
| Manufacture of Wearing Apparel | 12.17 | 11.68 | 9.22 | 8.67 |
| Other Community, Social and Personal Service Activities | 10.90 | 11.60 | 8.93 | 9.51 |
Improved Registration and Digital Adoption
Percentage of registered establishments has increased marginally from 37.20% in ASUSE 2023-24 to 37.50% in ASUSE 2025 indicating a slow but steady growth in the registration of enterprises within the sector.
Use of internet, for entrepreneurial purposes, has increased from 17.94% in 2023-24 to 31.06% in 2025 in rural and from 37.01% to 48.94% in urban sector. Overall, it increased from 26.68% to 39.37% during ASUSE 2025 as compared to ASUSE 2023-24. Among the broad activity categories, more than 50% of trading establishments have used internet for entrepreneurial purpose during the period Jan-Dec, 2025. This substantial growth reflects a strong trend toward digital adoption among establishments, highlighting the increasing reliance on the internet for business operations.
Figure 2, given below shows the change in usage of internet in ASUSE 2025 as compared to ASUSE 2023-24 by type of establishment.
Greater Capital Investment, Better Financial Inclusion
Average fixed assets per unincorporated non-agricultural establishment increased from ₹3,24,075 in ASUSE 2023–24 to ₹3,42,242 in ASUSE 2025, indicating improved capital investment in the sector. More than 80% of the outstanding loans of establishments were sourced through institutional channels, indicating improved access to formal finance.
Endnote: A brief about the coverage, sampling scheme, sample size and data collection mechanism in the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE):
- Coverage of ASUSE:
A.1. Geographically, ASUSE covers the rural and urban areas of the whole of India (except the villages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are difficult to access).
A.2. Sector-wise, this survey captures unincorporated non-agricultural establishments belonging to three sectors viz., Manufacturing, Trade and Other Services.
A.3. Ownership-wise, unincorporated non-agricultural establishments pertaining to proprietorship, partnership (excluding Limited Liability Partnerships), co-operatives, societies/trusts etc. have been covered in ASUSE.
- Sampling Scheme:
The survey has been conducted following a multi-stage stratified sampling scheme, where first stage units (FSUs) are census villages in rural area (except for rural Kerala, where Panchayat wards have been taken as FSUs) and UFS (Urban Frame Survey) blocks in urban areas. The ultimate stage units (USUs) are establishments for both the sectors. In the case of large FSUs, one intermediate stage of sampling has been done in the form of hamlet groups in rural and sub-blocks in urban.
The sampling design of ASUSE 2025 has been revised to enable quarterly selection of sample units. To facilitate this shift, the sample size has been increased by approximately 1.5 times over the previous survey. This improvement also makes it possible to produce quarterly estimates in addition to annual results. By adopting districts within a state as the basic strata, the design also allows participating states to generate annual estimates at the district level.
- Sample Size:
In ASUSE 2025, data were collected from a total of 6,70,289 establishments (2,94,144 in rural and 3,76,145 in urban) pertaining to 24,153 surveyed FSUs (10,219 in rural and 13,934 in urban).
- D. Data Collection Mechanism:
ASUSE 2025 has been conducted based on an area frame and establishments have been listed in the selected FSUs of both the rural and urban sectors. Mostly, data were collected from the selected establishments through oral enquiry pertaining to the ‘monthly’ reference period, barring a few big establishments, which had provided annual data from their audited Books of Accounts. The data for the survey were collected in tablet using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI).
- E. Know your Survey- ASUSE:
| The Factsheet and Detailed Report of ASUSE 2025 (January, 2025 – December, 2025) is available on the website of the Ministry (https://www.mospi.gov.in) | Scan QR code to access MoSPI Publications/ Reports  |
For more detailed understanding of the objectives, coverage, concepts, methodology and data quality practices of ASUSE in a simple, transparent, user-friendly language, one may refer to the Know Your Survey: A User Guide to the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) published by NSO, MOSPI and available on the website of the ministry (https://www.mospi.gov.in).
