The number of such enterprises stood at 65.1 million in the year-ago period.
Data showed a rise in women ownership of businesses with the share of proprietary establishments owned by them rising to 26.2% in the period under review from 22.95% in the year-ago period.
Jobs generated by unincorporated enterprises across manufacturing, trade and service sectors increased 10% to 120.6 million in the period under review from 109.6 million in the previous year. The services sector recorded the highest increase in jobs of 17.9%, followed by manufacturing (10%) and trade (1.9%), as per the data from the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) factsheet.
“The unincorporated sector plays an important role in the Indian economy by providing livelihoods and is integral to the supply chain, producing many goods and services,” Saurabh Garg, secretary, ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI), said while releasing the survey. Unincorporated enterprises are non-agricultural establishments that are not registered under the Companies Act, 1956 or the Companies Act, 2013. The gross value added (GVA) by these establishments rose 16.5% to ₹18 lakh crore in 2023-24, up from ₹15.4 lakh crore in 2022-23, with the highest increase from rural establishments of 17.2% compared to 16.1% in urban areas. Data showed that GVA per establishment declined in the manufacturing sector by 6.7% to ₹1.9 lakh in 2023-24 from the year before. For trade and services, it increased by 11.6% and 1.8%, respectively.
Chief economic advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran pointed out that the survey explains the 8.2% growth recorded in 2023-24. “The data shows the positive impact of various policy initiatives such as StandUp India and the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme on the growth of small businesses that the Covid abated,” he added.