According to the factsheet from Business
Standard, the number of unincorporated enterprises increased by 2 million from
July 2015-June 2016 to October 2022-September 2023, reaching a total of 65.04
million.
After adding 11.7 million workers in the October
2022-September 2023 period from the pandemic lows in April 2021-March 2022,
total workers employed in the vast informal sector in India — at 109.6 million
— still remains below the pre-pandemic period.
This is according to the latest fact sheet
titled ‘Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE)’ released by
the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday.
According to the previous 73rd round of the
National Sample Survey (NSS), conducted between July 2015 and June 2016, around
111.3 million workers were employed by unincorporated enterprises.
However, the number of unincorporated
enterprises rose by about 2 million between July 2015-June 2016 and October
2022-September 2023 to 65.04 million.
Unincorporated enterprises refer to business
entities that are not legally incorporated as a separate legal entity.
These enterprises typically include small
businesses, sole proprietorships, partnerships, and informal sector businesses.
Pronab Sen, chairperson, Standing Committee on
Statistics, said the unincorporated sector — which comprises the vast informal
sector — was severely hit by the successive economic shocks in the past decade
or so. These include demonetisation, goods & services tax (GST) and Covid,
which is reflected in the decline in the number of people employed.
Usually, the number of unincorporated
enterprises grows by close to 2 million annually. Had the sector not faced
these economic and natural shocks, the total number of such enterprises would
have been close to 75 million. In effect, close to 10 million enterprises were
lost. Given that an establishment provides employment to around 2.5-3 persons,
close to 25-30 million jobs were lost in the process. Also, the number of
people employed by them is still lower,” he added.
However, NSO said: “The results exhibit the
resilience shown by the unincorporated sector after the pandemic shock.”
Besides, the fact sheet also showed that the
gross value added (GVA) by these establishments rose to Rs 15.42 trillion in
the October 2022-September 2023 period from Rs 13.4 trillion in April
2021-March 2022.Given the large role and presence of unincorporated enterprises
in the Indian economy, NSO developed the idea of ASUSE.
It is for measuring economic and operational
characteristics of unincorporated non-agricultural establishments in
manufacturing, trade and other services sector (excluding construction).
Earlier, the NSO used to conduct ASUSE surveys
at an interval of five years.
The NSO had proposed the first annual ASUSE
survey for the October 2019-March 2020 period and another for April 2020-March
2021.
While the surveys are being conducted annually,
the reports have been delayed for some time. The NSO is already in the process
of conducting the ASUSE 2023-24 survey.
Read more at:
https://www.business-standard.com/economy/news/employment-in-informal-sector-remains-below-prepandemic-level-nso-data-124061401110_1.html