Key Details
The National Statistics Office’s Unincorporated Sector at the District Level: Insights from ASUSE 2025 provides its first district-level estimates from a large-scale nationwide enterprise survey.
Indicator | Finding |
|---|---|
Coverage | Estimates for 757 of 770 districts in the survey’s sampling frame |
Sectors | Unincorporated establishments in manufacturing, trade and other services |
Top 10 districts | Around one-tenth of establishments, workers and Gross Value Added |
Top 50 districts | Nearly one-third of establishments, workers and Gross Value Added |
Business concentration | Roughly one-third of districts have more than one lakh establishments |
Output per worker | Exceeds the national average of ₹1,56,539 in 280 districts |
Women workers | At least one-third of the workforce in 237 districts and more than half in 25 districts |
A Limited Number of Districts Account for a Large Share of Activity
India’s unincorporated non-agricultural sector includes businesses in manufacturing, trade and other servicesoperating as proprietorships, partnerships, cooperatives, societies and trusts.
Economic activity is geographically concentrated. The top 10 districts, ranked by the number of establishments, account for about one-tenth of the sector’s establishments, workers and GVA. The top 50 contribute nearly one-third of all three.
Scale varies sharply across the country:
roughly one-third of districts contain more than one lakh establishments;
about 9% have fewer than 10,000; and
only 16 districts have more than five lakh establishments.
The estimates provide a more detailed view of local business clusters and districts where the unincorporated sector has a comparatively limited presence.
Output per Worker Differs Across Districts
In around 331 districts, GVA per worker is estimated at between ₹1 lakh and ₹1.5 lakh. A further 280 districts exceed the all-India average of ₹1,56,539.
GVA per worker measures the economic value generated relative to employment. It should not be read as a pure measure of worker efficiency: differences can also reflect each district’s industry mix, business size, use of capital and local market conditions.
The new estimates can identify districts with relatively high or low output per worker. Additional evidence is required to determine whether the underlying constraints concern skills, technology, finance, infrastructure, business scale or market access.
Women’s Participation Shows Strong Regional Patterns
Women constitute at least one-third of the unincorporated-sector workforce in 237 districts and more than half in 25 districts.
The 10 districts with the highest shares of female workers are located in Telangana, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram. Districts with the highest shares of female-led establishments are concentrated in Telangana, Manipur and Meghalaya.
In Mizoram, female-owned proprietary establishments account for at least half of establishments in every district.
These patterns allow women’s entrepreneurship and employment to be examined locally rather than through a single national or state average. They can also help identify districts where participation is already strong and where significant gaps remain.
ASUSE Adds One Sectoral Layer to District Economic Measurement
The new estimates are related to, but distinct from, MoSPI’s uniform District Domestic Product guidelines released in June 2026. The DDP guidelines establish methods for estimating total district economic output across agriculture, industry and services. ASUSE covers only the unincorporated non-agricultural sector.
What Are Unincorporated Enterprises?
An unincorporated enterprise is a business without a separate legal identity from its owner or owners. The category includes many sole proprietorships and partnerships, along with certain cooperatives, societies and trusts.
Unincorporated does not necessarily mean unregistered, informal or illegal. Such a business may hold tax, municipal or sectoral registrations while remaining legally unincorporated. ASUSE covers these establishments in manufacturing, trade and other services, providing evidence on a large part of the economy not fully represented in surveys of incorporated companies.
Policy Relevance
The estimates provide a more detailed view of where unincorporated businesses, employment and value creation are concentrated. Their usefulness will depend on how states combine them with other district evidence.
Target local support: District patterns can inform enterprise finance, skills, infrastructure and market-access programmes.
Use gender evidence locally: Areas with strong female ownership and employment can help identify conditions that may work elsewhere.
Avoid mechanical rankings: Industry mix, local conditions and sampling reliability must inform comparisons of output per worker.
Combine statistical sources: ASUSE should complement DDP, employment and administrative data rather than be treated as a complete measure of district economies.
Follow the Full Update Here: NSO Releases First District-Level Estimates for the Unincorporated Non-Agricultural Sector