Snapshot: Both the number of establishments and overall employment recorded marginal growth compared to the previous quarter (April-June) despite global headwinds. Estimated number of establishments increased from 7.94 crore in April-June 2025 to 7.97 crore in July-September 2025. This also marks a sharp increase from the annual ASUSE 2023-24 estimate of 7.34 crores establishments. The employment in this sector stood close to 12.86 crore, showing nominal increase from the last quarter. However, the estimate for this quarter reflects a notable rise over the annual ASUSE 2023-24 figure of a little over 12 crore workers. The use of internet among enterprises in this sector increased steadily from 36% in April- June 2025 to 39% during July–September 2025. The quarter marked a notable recovery in the unincorporated manufacturing sector, with improvements in both employment and establishment numbers over the last quarter. The share of establishments in manufacturing sector increased from 26% to 27% and that of employment in manufacturing sector increased from 26% to 28%. The women workforce remained impressive, constituting 28.70% of total employment in the sector.

NSO Releases Quarterly Estimates of the Unincorporated Non-Agricultural Sector for the quarter July to September 2025

In line with its commitment to expanding high-frequency indicators, the National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), has released the Quarterly Bulletin on Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (QBUSE) for July–September 2025. QBUSE is the quarterly edition of the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE), offering key estimates at more frequent intervals. Its introduction reflects NSO’s continued effort to provide timely, actionable data for policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders on one of India’s most dynamic economic segments.

 

Similar annual estimates from the latest ASUSE (Oct 23- Sept 24) Estimated number of establishments 7.34 crores Estimated number of workers 12.06 crores

While ASUSE will continue to publish detailed annual estimates on a wider set of financial and non-financial indicators, QBUSE delivers periodic quarterly estimates on the scale, composition, and employment profile of unincorporated non-agricultural enterprises using the same framework. The quarterly data aim to capture short-term movements in the sector. NSO has already released the first two bulletins for January–March 2025 and April–June 2025.

The unincorporated non-agricultural sector remains a major contributor to GDP, a source of large-scale employment, and a crucial driver of local entrepreneurship and supply chains. Recognizing this importance, NSO launched ASUSE as an annual survey in 2021–22 and has since completed three rounds for 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24, providing comprehensive annual insights into the sector’s structure and operations.

This press note is for the quarterly bulletin for the quarter July - September, 2025. It is available on the website of the Ministry (https://mospi.gov.in).

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

Key highlightsof the resultsfor the quarter July – September, 2025:

Unincorporated sector remains resilient despite global headwinds:

Despite global challenges and trade uncertainties, the unincorporated sector stayed afloat during the July–September quarter. Estimated establishments increased from 7.94 crore in April-June 2025 to 7.97 crore in July-September 2025, reflecting a marginal quarter-on-quarter rise.

Workforce Trends: The employment in this sector stood close to 12.86 crore, remaining broadly at the same level as in the last quarter with only a nominal increase. However, the estimate for this quarter reflects a notable rise over the annual ASUSE 2023-24 figure of a little over 12 crore workers, indicating an overall expansion in employment within the unincorporated non-agricultural sector.

The proportion of establishments employing hired workers in the unincorporated non-agricultural sector was recorded at 13.41% in this quarter, reflecting a marginal increase over the last quarter.

Changing Workforce Composition:

Working owners continued to account for the largest share (59.98%) in the July-September 2025 quarter as in the earlier quarters. However, the percentage share of hired workers during the quarter increased from 24.38% in April-June to 25.91% in this quarter.

The increase in the estimated urban workforce from 6.61 crore (previous quarter) to 6.91 crore (current quarter) indicates a rise in employment in the enterprises in urban areas, reflecting greater labour absorption and expanded economic activity during this period.

Manufacturing sector recovery:

The quarter marked a notable recovery in the unincorporated manufacturing sector, with improvements in both employment and establishment numbers over the last quarter. While the number of establishments increased by 5.29%, the corresponding growth in workforce was observed to be 7.20%.

Many unincorporated manufacturing units depend on casual labour, migrant workers, and helpers who often shift to seasonal agricultural work in the preceding quarter and return when manufacturing activity strengthens, leading to a rise in employment rather than in the number of establishments.

Women’s Participation:

The women workforce remained impressive, constituting 28.70% of total employment in the sector. This is slightly higher than the same observed during the first two quarters of ASUSE 2025 as well as annual estimate from ASUSE 2023-24.

Digital Adoption and Advancing Formalisation:

 

Use of Internet: 34.20 % in the quarter January-March 2025 36.03 % in the quarterApril-June 2025 38.99% during July- September 2025

Use of the internet among enterprises in this sector continued to show a steady rise, indicating growing digital integration.This shows that more and more establishments are leveraging online platforms for business operations and transactions highlighting growing digital integration among these enterprises.

The percentage of firms reporting some form of registration increased, signalling a clear trend towards greater formalisation.

Key indicators of QBUSEfor the quarters July - September 2025 are given in the following table:

The estimated number of establishments and workers from quarterly data are given in Figure 1:

The percentage share of establishments and workers among Broad Activity Categories (Manufacturing, Trade and Other Services) is given in Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively.

Endnote: 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), Self-Help Groups (SHG), 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. 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.

Re-engineering of ASUSE sampling design:

In order to ensure generation of quarterly estimates from ASUSE retaining the core annual framework of the survey, the survey has been re-engineered for ASUSE 2025. The sampling design has been suitably modified to enable quarterly selection of sample units. Also, by making districts within a state as basic stratum, this new sampling strategy has provision for generation of district-level annual estimates by the states participating in the survey. This enhancement facilitates the generation of quarterly estimates from ASUSE 2025, in addition to the annual results.

C. Sample Size:

At all-India level, 5,880 First Stage Units (2,419 villages in rural sector and 3,461 UFS blocks in urban sector) have been surveyed during the quarter July, 2025 – September, 2025. This excludes FSUs of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Ladakh and rural areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland which are not considered for this quarterly bulletin, as sub-round restrictions were not imposed in these areas while conducting field-work, due to arduous field conditions. Accordingly, the number of establishments surveyed (excluding these states/UTs/areas) and considered for this bulletin are 1,65,842 (71,925 in rural and 93,917 in urban).To support the transition for Quarterly estimates, the overall sample size has been increased by approximately 1.5 times from the ASUSE conducted previously, and the survey has been further refined to ensure the production of robust, reliable, and timely quarterly estimates.

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.Comparability of quarterly results with previously released estimates of ASUSE and caveats:

The estimates presented in this quarterly bulletin pertain specifically to the unincorporated non-agricultural sector for the reference quarter under consideration. Although sampling design has been modified to enable generation of quarterly estimates using an area frame, the quarterly sample size is significantly less than the annual sample size. This bulletin has been prepared with due consideration to sample adequacy and reliability of the estimates. Accordingly, users may interpret quarterly movements with caution, considering potential sampling variability and short-term fluctuations in activity levels. It is important to note that ASUSE covers only a part of the non-agricultural economy, namely, the unincorporated segment of the establishments in manufacturing, trade and services (excluding construction). Hence, the trends observed in the quarterly results of the unincorporated sector as presented in QBUSE, may not directly align with the corresponding quarterly GDP estimates which covers the entire economy. Where relevant, the estimates presented in the Quarterly Bulletin are accompanied by confidence intervals to enable informed interpretation of the estimates.

The Quarterly Bulletin for the quarter July – September, 2025 is available on the website of the ministry (https://www.mospi.gov.in).Scan the below QR code to access the Publications/Reports

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Hallikeri

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