For first time, ASUSE has questions about issues faced by females in operating

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ASUSE, being conducted since 2021-22, presents employment and gross value added, provides livelihoods to many people and supports economic activity through its linkages with the incorporated sector

By Shishir Sinha

Updated - October 26, 2026 at 08:33 PM. | New Delhi

The Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) for the first time will capture gender-specific constraints faced by female entrepreneurs. Also, new questions related to investment trajectory and different sources of electricity have been added.

These are part of ASUSE 2027-28, which will be conducted between April next year to March 2028, aligning the survey period with the financial year. ASUSE, being conducted since 2021-22, presents employment and gross value added, provides livelihoods to many people and supports economic activity through its linkages with the incorporated sector.

Gender-specific constraints

“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,” the Statistics Ministry said while giving details about proposed changes in the next edition of the survey.

Further, 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,” the Ministry said.

New question

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, the Ministry said.

Energy usage

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 Ministry said while adding that the addition of these questions will strengthen the range of information available from ASUSE on the operational characteristics of establishments.

The Ministry also highlighted an important change to the survey calendar. Now, the survey will be conducted during the fiscal year period (April-March) from the calendar year (January-December), and this will begin next fiscal.

“The change is intended to align the reference period of the survey with the financial year, as is done in other enterprise surveys like the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), the Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises (ASISSE), etc., and enhance the utility of ASUSE data for National Accounts purposes,” the Ministry said.

Earlier, it 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.

E-commerce questions

Also, questions are covering the presence of the establishment in the e-commerce marketplace 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 Ministry concluded.

Published on October 26, 2026

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