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The National Statistics Office has for the first time released district-level estimates from a large-scale nationwide enterprise survey, covering India's unincorporated non-agricultural sector.
The report, 'Unincorporated Sector at the District Level: Insights from ASUSE 2025', covers 757 of the 770 districts in the survey's sampling frame.
The top 50 districts account for nearly one-third of all establishments, workers and Gross Value Added in the sector; the top 10 account for about one-tenth.
Women make up one-third of the unincorporated workforce in 237 districts and more than half in 25 districts.
In 280 districts, GVA per worker exceeds the all-India average of Rs 1,56,539.
| State/UT | District with most establishments | Share within State/UT (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Maharashtra | Pune | 9.14 |
| Uttar Pradesh | Prayagraj | 5.77 |
| West Bengal | North Twenty-Four Parganas | 15.99 |
| Gujarat | Surat | 19.43 |
| Telangana | Rangareddy | 23.53 |
| Karnataka | Bengaluru (Urban) | 12.83 |
| Tamil Nadu | Chennai | 7.13 |
| Bihar | Patna | 8.23 |
| Rajasthan | Jaipur | 11.70 |
| Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram | 12.38 |
| Punjab | Ludhiana | 14.74 |
| Goa | North Goa | 77.66 |
| Puducherry | Puducherry | 76.64 |
| Ladakh | Leh | 59.00 |
Conducts large-scale sample surveys including ASUSE and compiles national accounts and price indices; this is its first release of district-level estimates from a nationwide enterprise survey
Nodal ministry for the Indian Statistical System and for monitoring infrastructure projects and MPLADS
Advisory body that evolves policies, priorities and standards for official statistics; set up on the recommendation of the Rangarajan Commission's review of the Indian Statistical System
An enterprise that is not separately incorporated as a company, so it has no legal identity apart from its owner. ASUSE counts proprietorships, partnerships other than LLPs, co-operatives and societies in manufacturing, trade and other services. This is the statistical core of what is loosely called the informal sector.
Simple Analogy: A neighbourhood tailor's shop, not a registered company.
NSS 67th round surveys unincorporated non-agricultural enterprises
NSS 73rd round repeats the exercise after a five-year gap
ASUSE begins as the first full annual survey of the sector, replacing the five-yearly round
MoSPI publishes a statistical profile for India's 46 million-plus cities, then the first district-level estimates from ASUSE 2025
GVA is output minus intermediate consumption, the production-side measure from which GDP is derived by adding net taxes on products; GVA per worker is used here as the productivity indicator.
The unincorporated sector is where most non-agricultural informal employment sits, which is why registration status and emoluments per hired worker are reported as separate indicators.
Administrative registers of unorganised workers and micro-enterprises cover part of the same universe, but only a survey like ASUSE gives representative estimates of establishments that never register.
GS Paper 3 > Economy > Growth, Development and Employment
General Awareness > Indian Economy and Statistics
General Awareness > Economy and MSME Sector
Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises, the NSO's yearly survey of unincorporated non-agricultural establishments in manufacturing, trade and other services; it replaced the earlier five-yearly NSS rounds from 2021-22.
Output less intermediate consumption; GDP at market prices equals GVA at basic prices plus product taxes minus product subsidies.
The standard error expressed as a percentage of the estimate, published alongside each district figure so users can judge its reliability.
The initial sampling unit in a multi-stage design; census villages in rural areas, Panchayat wards in rural Kerala, and Urban Frame Survey blocks in urban areas.