Understand which businesses the survey covers
The survey covers unincorporated manufacturing, trade and other services outside agriculture, with construction excluded. Its establishments include own-account operations and those with hired workers. This population is broader than a list of incorporated companies and has a different scope from a list of registered MSMEs.
The worker count includes working owners, hired workers, unpaid family workers and other workers engaged in the establishments. It should not be described as 12.81 crore salaried jobs or as all employment in India. For business-to-business research, the establishment count is often a more relevant initial unit than the resident population.
Evidence: Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises 2025: Operational and Economic Characteristics · Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises: Results for 2025
Rural scale and urban employment are different patterns
The report estimates about 4.24 crore rural establishments and 3.68 crore urban establishments. Their worker estimates are about 6.00 crore and 6.80 crore respectively. This suggests different average establishment scales across the two broad areas, without telling us about the size of any individual business.
The original table presents counts in hundreds and rounds estimates independently. Consequently, the rural and urban components sum 100 above the separately published national total for both establishments and workers. The figures here retain that rounding difference rather than silently altering an official value.
Evidence: Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises 2025: Operational and Economic Characteristics · Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises: Results for 2025
Business internet use is not universal
Internet use for entrepreneurial activity during the preceding 365 days was reported for 39.4% of establishments. The rural estimate was 31.1% and the urban estimate 48.9%. The share was 34.2% among own-account establishments and 72.7% among hired-worker establishments.
These are business-use measures. They do not say that the establishment sells online, accepts every digital payment method or has a customer-facing website. A researcher assessing a business software market should ask which task is being digitised and whether the relevant type of establishment needs the product.
Evidence: Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises 2025: Operational and Economic Characteristics · Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises: Results for 2025
Keep compensation and productivity separate
Mean annual emoluments per hired worker were ₹1,46,550, with ₹1,24,516 in rural areas and ₹1,56,143 in urban areas. The measure includes relevant compensation components and is expressed at current prices. It is not a median take-home salary or the earnings of every working owner.
The separately reported GVA per worker is ₹1,56,539 for covered market establishments. Value added is a productivity measure with a different purpose and universe from hired-worker compensation; subtracting one average from the other would not establish a typical employer’s profit. When comparing survey rounds, also retain their collection periods: 2025 uses January–December, while the preceding round used October 2023–September 2024.
Evidence: Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises 2025: Operational and Economic Characteristics · Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises: Results for 2025