NEW DELHI: The use of internet for carrying out a business activity such as taking orders online or using UPI for placing orders has increased to 13.5% from 7.7% in rural and to 30.2% from 21.6% in urban sector during 2022-23, with an overall increase of 7.2 percentage points, results of a survey undertaken by the statistics office showed on Friday, highlighting the rapid adoption of
digital technology
in the
informal sector
.
The survey also showed that 25.6% of the total workers, during 2022-23, were female. This includes the significant presence of women workers accounting for 31% of the total workforce in units that function without any hired worker on a regular basis. About 54% of the proprietary establishments in manufacturing sector were run by
women entrepreneurs
, highlighting the presence of women in the informal sector.
The second wave of the
Covid-19 pandemic
had severely hit the informal sector, reducing the number of units and workers but the segment recovered gradually after July quarter of 2021, the early results of the survey had shown last month.
The total number of establishments in the unincorporated sector increased from nearly 6 crore in 2021-22 to 6.5 crore in 2022-23, an increase of about 5.9%. Among the broad sectors under coverage, the number of units in the other services segment had a major share in 2022-23 (37.9%), followed by trade (34.7%) & manufacturing (27.4%).
More than 40% of the establishments in this sector are engaged in retail trade (around 30%), followed by manufacturing of apparel (around 11%) in 2022-23. Among the major states, highest number of establishments (rural and urban combined) have been reported in Uttar Pradesh, followed by West Bengal and Maharashtra in 2021-22 as well as in 2022-23, the survey results showed.
Fixed assets owned by an unincorporated non-agricultural establishment, on average, rose from Rs 2,81,013 in 2021-22 to Rs 3,18,144 in 2022-23, indicating improved capital investment in the sector. Outstanding loan per establishment has increased from Rs 37,408 in 2021-22 to Rs 50,138 in 2022-23, signalling an improvement in the availability of loan in this sector.
The key results of the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) for 2021-22 and 2022-23 in the form of a factsheet were released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on June 14 and now the detailed results have been unveiled.
