Unincorporated sector sees strong growth in 2023-24: MoSPI survey | Today News

In its annual survey of unincorporated sector enterprises (ASUSE) for 2023-24, MoSPI said the total number of establishments in the sector increased substantially from 65 million to 73.4 million during this period.

Top states by GVA

“The top three states in terms of GVA were Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat during ASUSE 2023-24,” it said.

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“The unincorporated non-agricultural sector employed more than 120 million workers between October 2023 and September 2024, marking an increase of more than 10 million workers from 2022-23 and reflecting robust labour market growth,” it added.

Gross Value Added (GVA) is a measure of the value of goods and services produced in an economy.

According to the survey, more than a third of the workforce was concentrated in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

Workforce expansion

The proportion of female workers increased from 25.63% to 28.12%. Additionally, around 58% of establishments in the manufacturing sector were led by female proprietors during the survey period.

The survey focuses on assessing the economic and operational characteristics of unincorporated non-agricultural establishments across the manufacturing, trade, and services sectors.

These establishments include businesses in the informal sector, such as MSMEs, household units with or without hired workers, and own-account enterprises.

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Digital adoption

According to the survey, the use of the internet for entrepreneurial purposes, has increased from 13.5% in 2022-23 to 17.9% in 2023-24 in rural and from 30.2% to 37% in the urban sector.

“Overall, it increased from 21.10% to 26.70% during ASUSE 2023-24, as compared to ASUSE 2022-23. Among the broad activity categories, about 35% of trading establishments used the internet for entrepreneurial purposes, an increase of 10 percentage points from ASUSE 2022-23,” the survey said.

“This substantial growth reflects a strong trend toward digital adoption among establishments, highlighting the increasing reliance on the Internet for business operations,” it added.

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Meanwhile, the average value of fixed assets owned by unincorporated non-agricultural establishments has increased from Rs. 3,18,144 in ASUSE 2022-23 to Rs. 3,24,075 in ASUSE 2023-24, reflecting a rise in capital investment within the sector.

Additionally, the outstanding loan per establishment has grown from Rs. 50,138 in 2022-23 to Rs. 53,710 in 2023-24, suggesting improved access to loans in the sector.

The data for the latest survey were collected from 498,024 establishments—273,085 in rural areas and 224,939 in urban areas—across 16,842 surveyed first-stage units (FSUs) or census villages, towns and cities (8,523 in rural and 8,319 in urban).