3 min readMar 26, 2026 06:00 AM IST First published on: Mar 26, 2026 at 06:00 AM ISTThe results of the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) for 2025, by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), make for a sobering read. The survey aims to map the changes in India’s informal sector for a given calendar year — essentially, the informal sector refers to the unincorporated non-agricultural enterprises. On the face of it, ASUSE 2025 shows that both the number of enterprises in this sector as well as the number of people employed in it have grown. The total number of establishments in the sector increased from 7.34 crore in ASUSE 2023-24 (October 23-September 24) to 7.92 crore in ASUSE 2025 (January 25-December 25).This is an increase of almost 8 per cent, which MoSPI describes as “healthy”. The sector also saw 74.5 lakh more people getting employed, taking the number of the total employed to about 12.8 crore workers during the January-December 2025 period. This is an increase of 6.2 per cent and has been flagged as “robust labour market expansion” by the MoSPI.However, a closer look at these numbers reveals a fair degree of sluggishness in the informal economy. For instance, Gross Value Added (GVA) per worker, which is a measure of labour productivity of the sector, rose by just 4.5 per cent to reach the level of Rs 1.56 lakh in 2025. The GVA per establishment grew even slower at 2.85 per cent to Rs 2.52 lakh. Given the muted increase in GVAs, it is hardly surprising that the earnings per hired worker increased by just 3.9 per cent — a sharp fall from the 13 per cent increase between the 2023 and 2024 survey periods. Even the number of new jobs created in this sector in 2025 (74.5 lakh) is far lower than the new jobs created in 2024.AdvertisementASUSE estimates serve as an important input not just for the estimation of India’s overall gross domestic product (GDP) but also for policymaking, especially for departments and ministries related to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), textiles, etc. What this data shows is that in a period when the overall GDP of India grew at close to 9 per cent (in nominal terms), the informal sector’s growth and growth in the value creation by an average worker lagged behind. The data underscores the need for India to continue to bring more people into the formal sector, apart from highlighting the concerns of firms in the informal economy.