ASUSE 2027–28 to Align with the Financial Year (April–March)

Enhanced Stakeholder Responsiveness

The unincorporated non-agricultural sector constitutes an important segment of the Indian economy. It contributes significantly to employment and gross value added, provides livelihoods to a large number of people and supports economic activity through its linkages with the incorporated sector. Enterprises in this segment operate across a wide range of activities and vary considerably in their scale, organisational structure and operating conditions. Reliable and timely information on their operational characteristics and economic activities is therefore essential for understanding the structure and performance of the sector and for formulating policies that respond to its diverse requirements.

The National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), has been conducting the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) since 2021–22 to generate comprehensive statistical information on this important segment of the economy. The survey provides information on the characteristics and economic operations of unincorporated establishments and contributes to the availability of data for economic analysis, policy formulation and national accounting purposes.

The development of ASUSE has been guided by regular engagement with stakeholders and an assessment of emerging data requirements. The Ministry has undertaken several initiatives in this regard, including the organisation of Data User Conferences, regular consultations with stakeholder Ministries and deliberations with expert groups on various technical aspects of the survey.

During the ongoing ASUSE 2026, suggestions and data requirements have also been received from stakeholders through different forums. These inputs, together with NSO’s internal assessment of the survey requirements, have led to the proposed changes in the schedule for ASUSE 2027–28.

The proposed changes seek to improve the policy relevance of the survey while retaining its role as a key source of official statistics on the unincorporated non-agricultural sector.

Key changes proposed in ASUSE 2027–28

1. For the first time, questions will be introduced to capture gender-specific constraints faced by female entrepreneurs in operating and managing their establishments. These questions aim to improve the availability of information on the challenges women entrepreneurs face in the unincorporated sector.

Such information can support a better understanding of the constraints faced by female-led enterprises and provide a useful evidence-base for examining the factors affecting their business operations. It will also broaden the scope of information available from ASUSE for analysing the challenges of female entrepreneurs and for informing policy discussions relating to women's participation in economic activity.

2. Additional questions will be included to capture the different sources of electricity used by establishments. This will provide a more comprehensive picture of the energy-use patterns of enterprises in the unincorporated sector. Information on electricity sources can help data users better understand the energy arrangements under which establishments operate and facilitate analysis of the operating environment of enterprises across different activities. The addition of these questions will strengthen the range of information available from ASUSE on the operational characteristics of establishments.
3. A new question will be introduced to capture investment in fixed assets over a longer reference period than that covered in the existing schedule. This change is intended to provide a broader perspective on the investment trajectory of establishments. Information covering a longer period can help in examining investment activity beyond the period captured by the existing question and can provide additional insights into the investment behaviour and business outlook of establishments. It will also enhance the analytical utility of ASUSE data for understanding investment patterns in the unincorporated sector.
4. The handloom and handicraft sector sits at the intersection of India’s unincorporated economy and traditional knowledge systems and availability of precise, granular and actionable data is indispensable for evidence-based policy making for this sector.  In this context, at the request of the Ministry of Textiles, two questions will be included to identify handloom, power-loom and handicraft establishments. The proposed questions are intended to facilitate the identification of establishments engaged in these activities within the survey framework.

The availability of such information will improve the scope for analysing these segments of the unincorporated sector and help address the specific information requirements of the concerned stakeholder Ministry. Taken together, these changes are intended to enhance the policy orientation of ASUSE and improve its responsiveness to the information needs of different Ministries and other data users.

5. In an important change to the survey calendar, the survey period for ASUSE is being shifted from the calendar year (January–December) to the financial year (April–March). Accordingly, ASUSE 2027–28 is proposed to be conducted from April 2027 to March 2028. The change is intended to align the reference period of the survey with the financial year, as is done in other enterprise surveys like Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises (ASISSE), etc. and enhance the utility of ASUSE data for National Accounts purposes. Financial-year alignment is expected to facilitate the use of survey information in conjunction with other economic statistics compiled on a financial-year basis.

The transition has been planned ensuring continuity in the generation of quarterly estimates. To avoid a break in the quarterly estimates for January–March 2027, the survey will also be conducted during this quarter using the existing ASUSE 2026 schedule. Thereafter, the new survey cycle will commence in April 2027 under ASUSE 2027–28. This arrangement is intended to facilitate the transition to the revised survey calendar while preserving continuity in the quarterly statistical series.

The initiatives introduced in earlier rounds of ASUSE to strengthen the quality, coverage and usefulness of the survey will continue in ASUSE 2027–28.

These include the revamped sampling design, which provides for the generation of district-level estimates by participating States; the use of globally accepted classifications; and the deployment of agile Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI)-based systems for data collection and a more policy-oriented ICT block with questions covering presence of the establishment in e-commerce market place and use of digital payment instruments such as UPI (including BHIM), mobile wallets and POS devices. These measures support the systematic collection of information and strengthen the analytical usefulness of the resulting data.

The survey will also continue to incorporate stakeholder-driven information requirements, wherever appropriate, and to disseminate findings through the Quarterly Bulletin of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (QBUSE). The continued publication of quarterly estimates will support the availability of timely information on developments in the unincorporated sector.

The detailed establishment schedule for ASUSE 2027–28 is placed on the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI)’s official website to invite comments and suggestions from policymakers, stakeholder Ministries, researchers, data users and other interested stakeholders.

Comments and suggestions on the proposed schedule may be sent in the prescribed format to nssocpd.coord@mospi.gov.in and tc.dpd@mospi.gov.in by 15^th November 2026. The draft questionnaire and the prescribed feedback format can be accessed through the link provided on the MoSPI website at https://www.mospi.gov.in.

The feedback received from stakeholders will help the Ministry assess the proposed information requirements and further enhance the relevance, comprehensiveness and policy utility of ASUSE 2027–28.

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Samrat