India's unincorporated sector: 7.92 crore units, 12.81 crore workers in 2025
India's unincorporated non-agricultural sector expanded sharply between January 2025 and December 2025, with the total number of establishments rising from 7.34 crore to 7.92 crore — a growth of 7.97 per cent — while total employment reached 12.81 crore workers, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The data, released on Wednesday, 7 May 2025, comes from the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) for the reference period of January 2025 to December 2025.
Sector-wise Growth Breakdown
Among broad sectors, 'Other Services' recorded the fastest growth at 10.29 per cent, followed by the manufacturing sector at 6.48 per cent and the trade sector at 6.18 per cent. The unincorporated non-agricultural sector is widely regarded as a vital pillar of the Indian economy, generating large-scale employment, supporting livelihoods, and contributing significantly to GDP while complementing the organised sector.
Jobs Added and Regional Concentration
The sector added more than 74.52 lakh jobs compared to the previous reference period of October 2023 to September 2024, reflecting what the survey describes as robust labour market expansion. More than one-third of the total workforce was concentrated in just three states: Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Maharashtra, underscoring the geographic unevenness of informal sector employment across India.
Women's Participation and Entrepreneurship
Female workers accounted for approximately 29 per cent of the sector's total workforce. Of all female workers, nearly 22 per cent were engaged in the manufacturing of wearing apparel. Notably, female proprietors headed over 60 per cent of establishments in the manufacturing sector. The share of female-headed proprietary establishments rose marginally from 26.17 per cent in ASUSE 2023-24 to 26.93 per cent in ASUSE 2025. According to the survey findings,
