District-level estimates of India’s unincorporated non-agricultural sector

Why in News?

The National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has released district-level estimates of India’s unincorporated non-agricultural sector for the first time. Based on the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) 2025, the estimates provide granular information on the geographical distribution, employment, female participation and productivity of unincorporated enterprises across districts.

About the District-Level Estimates

The estimates cover 757 out of 770 districts available in the sampling frame at the time of sample selection. This is the first time that the NSO has disseminated district-level estimates from a large-scale nationwide survey.

The data provides insights into the number of unincorporated establishments, workforce and Gross Value Added (GVA) generated by the sector at the district level. Unincorporated enterprises form an important part of India’s non-agricultural economy and include businesses operating outside the corporate structure.

The top 10 districts, ranked by the estimated number of unincorporated establishments, together account for about one-tenth of the country’s total establishments, workforce and GVA generated by the sector. These districts are spread across Gujarat, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The top 50 districts are distributed across 12 states: Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Only 16 districts have more than five lakh unincorporated establishments each. These include eight districts in West Bengal, three in Maharashtra, two in Gujarat, and one each in Karnataka, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.