First-ever district-level estimates released by NSO for unincorporated non-agricultural sector

Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation First-ever district-level estimates released by NSO for unincorporated non-agricultural sector Top 50 districts drive nearly one-third of the sector’s activity Women comprise one-third of workforce in 237 districts

Posted On: 10 SEP 2026 4:00PM by PIB Delhi

Snapshot:

NSO disseminates district-level estimates from a large-scale, nation-wide enterprise survey for the first time, marking a significant step towards strengthening granular sub-state-level statistics in India.

The top 50 districts, ranked by the number of unincorporated establishments, account for nearly one-third of the total establishments, workforce and Gross Value Added.

Roughly one-third of all districts have more than one lakh unincorporated establishments per district.

In 237 districts, women constitute one-third of the total workforce in the unincorporated sector.

In 280 districts, GVA per worker exceeds the all-India average indicating relatively higher levels of economic productivity in these districts.

NSO Releases insights on urban unincorporated enterprise landscape at district level The importance of granular and high-frequency data has grown significantly in recent years, reflecting the increasing need for evidence-based policymaking and targeted interventions. In particular, sub-state-level statistics play a crucial role in identifying regional variations, emerging strengths and areas requiring attention, thereby enabling more targeted and area-specific policy interventions.

As part of this endeavour, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has already published, for the first time, a comprehensive statistical profile of the unincorporated sector across the country’s 46 million-plus cities, identified on the basis of Census 2011 population. Taking this initiative further, MoSPI has now presented a district-level portrait of the scale, structure and economic performance of India’s unincorporated non-agricultural sector across States and Union Territories (UTs).

The district-level estimates presented in this report also include the corresponding estimates for million- plus cities located within the respective districts. This marks the first initiative of the National Statistics Office (NSO), MoSPI, to disseminate district-level estimates from a large-scale, nationwide survey. The

report is available on the website of the Ministry at https://mospi.gov.in.

Unincorporated Sector at the District Level: Insights from ASUSE 2025Drawing upon ASUSE 2025 data, this report presents a comprehensive picture of the unincorporated sector at the district level through a balanced set of indicators covering the scale and structure of establishments, employment and emoluments, and economic performance. These include estimates of establishments and workers, ownership and employment structure, women’s participation, registration status, emoluments per hired worker, and GVA per establishment and GVA per worker for market establishments. Estimates of these indicators are given for 757 out of 770 districts available in the sampling frame during sample selection of ASUSE 2025 offering granular district-level insights based on nationally representative survey data. However, the geographical coverage of some districts and number of districts may differ from the current administrative configuration due to subsequent changes in district boundaries, names and/or the creation of new districts.

As Lakshadweep and Chandigarh each comprise only one district, the district-level estimates for these UTs coincide with their respective UT-level estimates and already published in the ASUSE 2025 report.

Accordingly, separate district-level estimates are not presented for Lakshadweep and Chandigarh in this report. Additionally, owing to the very small rural population and the limited number of villages in Delhi, all districts were combined into a single stratum for the rural sector, from which the sample FSUs were selected. A similar approach was adopted for the urban sector. Accordingly, district-level estimates for Delhi could not be generated and, therefore, are not presented in this Report.

A brief overview of the coverage, sampling methodology, and data collection mechanism of ASUSE 2025 are provided in the Endnote.

Insight from Unincorporated Enterprise Landscape Geographical concentration and district-level dynamics of the unincorporated sector The unincorporated non-agricultural sector exhibits a notable concentration of economic activity across districts. The top 10 districts, ranked by the estimated number of unincorporated establishments, together account for about one-tenth of the total establishments, workers and Gross Value Added (GVA) generated by the sector while the top 50 districts capture nearly one-third of the total establishments, workforce and GVA.

The top 10 districts are spread across four States: Gujarat, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, while the top 50 districts are spread across twelve states viz. Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The district-level distribution further reveals considerable variation in the scale of the unincorporated sector across the country. Roughly one-third of all districts have more than one lakh unincorporated establishments per district, while about 9% of the districts have fewer than 10,000 establishments per district. Only 16 districts (eight from West Bengal, three from Maharashtra, two from Gujarat, one each from Karnataka, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh) have more than 5 lakh unincorporated establishments per district.

Productivity performance across districts District-level estimates also highlight variations in the productivity performance of the unincorporated sector. In about 331 districts, GVA per worker is estimated to be between ₹1 lakh and ₹1.5 lakh. In 280 districts, GVA per worker exceeds the all-India average (Rs. 1,56,539) indicating relatively higher levels of economic productivity in these districts.

District-level landscape of female entrepreneurship The district-level estimates reveal significant regional patterns in female entrepreneurship. The top 10 districts with the highest share of female-led unincorporated establishments are located in Telangana, Manipur and Meghalaya. In Mizoram, female-owned proprietary establishments account for at least 50 percent of establishments in each district of the State.

A similar pattern is observed in the participation of women in the workforce. Top ten districts with the highest share of female workers are located in Telangana, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram, reflecting the significant role played by women in the unincorporated sector in these states. In as many as 237 districts, women constitute one-third of the total workforce in the unincorporated sector whereas in 25 districts the female workers constitute more than 50% of the workforce.

Table 1 presents the top contributing district within each of the 33 State/UT with their corresponding percentage contribution in total unincorporated business units within the state/UT.

State District within the Percentage State District with Percentage state with highest Contribution Highest Contribution number of within number of within estimated State/UT estimated State/UT establishments establishment Andaman & South Andaman 61.04 Maharashtra Pune 9.14 Nicobar Islands Andhra Prakasam 5.61 Manipur Imphal West 24.75 Pradesh Arunachal Papum Pare 24.57 Meghalaya East Khasi 26.85 Pradesh Hills Assam Dhubri 8.14 Mizoram Aizwal 31.49 Bihar Patna 8.23 Nagaland Kohima 17.54 Chhattisgarh Durg 11.08 Odisha Mayurbhanj 10.65 Dadra & Dadra & Nagar 65.48 Puducherry Puducherry 76.64 Nagar Haveli Haveli and Daman & Diu Goa North Goa 77.66 Punjab Ludhiana 14.74 Gujarat Surat 19.43 Rajasthan Jaipur 11.70 Haryana Gurugram 9.96 Sikkim Gangtok 27.97 Himachal Kangra 19.02 Tamil Nadu Chennai 7.13 PradeshJammu & Srinagar 18.49 Telangana Rangareddy 23.53 Kashmir Jharkhand Giridih 10.70 Tripura West Tripura 32.66 Karnataka Bengaluru (Urban) 12.83 Uttar Prayagraj 5.77 Pradesh Kerala Thiruvananthapuram 12.38 Uttarakhand Udham Singh 23.03 Nagar Ladakh Leh 59.00 West Bengal North Twenty- 15.99 Four Parganas Madhya Jabalpur 6.03 Pradesh A brief about the coverage, sampling scheme, and data collection mechanism in the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE):

A. Coverage:

A.1. Geographically, the survey covers the rural and urban areas of whole of India (except some of 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 this survey.

B. 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 which are updated periodically. 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.

Due to very small population size and very few villages in rural sector of Delhi, all the districts in Delhi were merged into one stratum only and sample FSUs in rural areas were selected from that stratum. In urban areas also, same treatment was given. Hence, for Delhi, district level estimates cannot be generated and presented in this Report.

D. Data Collection Mechanism:

The survey has been conducted based on area frame and establishments have been listed in the selected FSUs of both rural and urban sector and from the listed establishments in the FSUs, requisite number of establishments were surveyed as per the sampling design. Mostly, data were collected from the selected establishments through oral enquiry pertaining to the ‘monthly’ reference period. The data for the survey were collected in Tablet using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI).E. Note to users and caveats:

The district-level estimates are based on sample survey data and should be interpreted taking into account the differences across regions arising out of underlying economic and demographic characteristics, variations in industrial composition, local conditions, and sampling variability. To facilitate informed use of the estimates, measures of statistical reliability, in terms of Relative Standard Errors (RSEs) has been

provided. In some cases, the Relative Standard Errors (RSEs) presented in this report are high and such cases may be duly considered while drawing inferences.

The report on Unincorporated Sector at the District Level:

Insights from ASUSE 2025 is available on the website of the ministry (https://www.mospi.gov.in). Scan the QR code to access the Publications/Reports. **** Samrat (Release ID: 2308690) Visitor Counter : 733

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