NSO survey shows a tiny bunch of districts with a chunk of informal economy

New Delhi: A small number of districts account for a surprisingly large share of India’s informal or unincorporated economy. According to the National Statistics Office’s (NSO) first district-level estimates, the top 50 contribute nearly a third of its establishments, workers and gross value added (GVA). The data gives policymakers a clearer picture of where economic activity is concentrated, and where it is falling behind.

The estimates cover 757 of the 770 districts. This survey for 2025 said it covered the entire geographical area of India, except some villages in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands that are difficult to access.

The findings, released on Thursday, are based on the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) 2025, and they offer the first granular district-level picture of the scale, employment structure and productivity of businesses operating outside the corporate sector. The survey covers unincorporated non-agricultural establishments across manufacturing, trade and other services.

The concentration is even more pronounced at the top. The 10 leading districts, ranked by the number of unincorporated establishments, together account for about one-tenth of establishments, workers and GVA generated by the sector, said the NSO estimates.

The top 10 districts are spread across Gujarat, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, while the top 50 are distributed across 12 states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan, Punjab, Odisha and Bihar.

The data provides a more detailed view of regional economic activity than state-level estimates, potentially allowing government interventions to be targeted at districts with high concentrations of enterprises or those lagging in productivity, the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) said in a statement.

According the survey, the scale of the unincorporated sector varies sharply across districts. Roughly one-third of the districts have more than one lakh unincorporated establishments each, while about 9% have fewer than 10,000 establishments.

Only 16 districts have more than five lakh establishments each. West Bengal accounts for eight of these 16 districts, followed by Maharashtra with three and Gujarat with two. Karnataka, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh each have one district in this category, according to the survey.

The concentration of activity within individual states is also significant. Surat accounts for 19.43% of Gujarat’s estimated unincorporated establishments, while Rangareddy contributes 23.53% of Telangana’s total. North 24 Parganas accounts for 15.99% of West Bengal’s establishments and Pune for 9.14% of Maharashtra’s.

The survey highlights wide variations in productivity. GVA per worker exceeds the all-India average of ₹1.56 lakh in 280 districts, pointing to relatively higher economic productivity in these locations. In another 331 districts, the GVA per worker is estimated at ₹1.0 -1.5 lakh.

The findings also point to substantial regional differences in women’s participation in the unincorporated economy. In 237 districts, women account for at least one-third of the workforce, while in 25 districts they comprise more than half of the total workers.

The highest shares of female-led unincorporated establishments are concentrated in Telangana, Manipur and Meghalaya. Mizoram stands out, with women-owned proprietary establishments accounting for at least half of establishments in every district of the state.

The estimates include indicators covering the number of establishments and workers, ownership and employment structure, women’s participation, registration status, emoluments and GVA per establishment and worker.

The latest exercise follows MoSPI’s earlier release of a statistical profile of the unincorporated sector across 46 million-plus cities. Unlike the city-level exercise, the new estimates provide a broader district-level view, including corresponding estimates for million-plus cities located within the respective districts.