The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Enterprises (ASUSE) for 2021–22 and 2022–23. It revealed that retail trade and the manufacturing of clothing were among the top activity categories in the informal sector and employed the greatest number of workers among the informal enterprises.
The overall number of informal sector establishments grew by 5.88 per cent annually, from 5.97 crore in 2021–2022 to 6.50 crore in 2022–2023.
In ASUSE 2022–23, other retail trade accounted for 30.38 per cent of all businesses and employed 29.80 per cent of all workers. Manufacturing of clothing came in second with 11.27 per cent of establishments and 8.39 per cent of all workers.
According to MoSPI, there has been a 7.2 per cent increase in the usage of the internet for entrepreneurial reasons, showing a strong rate of digitalization in the industry.
Uttar Pradesh has the most total number of establishments (rural and urban combined), followed by West Bengal and Maharashtra. From 25.52 per cent in ASUSE 2021–22 to 25.63 per cent in ASUSE 2022–23, the percentage of female workers has slightly grown.