ASUSE 2027-28 to Ask Women Entrepreneurs About Their Constraints for the First Time, Shifts to Financial-Year Cycle

The National Statistics Office will run the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises 2027-28 from April 2027 to March 2028, moving it from the calendar year to the financial year, and will add first-ever questions on gender-specific constraints faced by female entrepreneurs, plus new questions on electricity sources, longer-period investment and handloom and handicraft units, the Statistics Ministry said on Monday.

Awaaz Punjab Investigations Desk27 October 20263 min readRead in all 3 languages

New Delhi, Oct 26 (IANS): The National Statistics Office (NSO) will conduct the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) 2027-28 from April 2027 to March 2028, shifting the survey period from the calendar year to the financial year, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said in a statement on Monday. The change aligns ASUSE with other enterprise surveys such as the Annual Survey of Industries and the Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises, and is intended to enhance the utility of its data for National Accounts, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via Hi India

For the first time, the survey will introduce questions to capture gender-specific constraints faced by female entrepreneurs in operating and managing their establishments. The Statistics Ministry said the questions aim to improve information on the challenges women face in the unincorporated sector, broaden the scope for analysing women's participation in economic activity and inform policy discussions, The Hindu BusinessLine reported.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine

New questions will also capture the sources of electricity used by establishments, which the NSO said can help data users understand the energy arrangements under which enterprises operate, and investment in fixed assets over a longer reference period than the existing schedule covers, giving a broader perspective on investment behaviour and business outlook in the unincorporated sector, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via NewKerala

At the request of the Ministry of Textiles, two questions will be included to identify handloom, power-loom and handicraft establishments within the survey, the NSO statement said, noting that precise and granular data is indispensable for evidence-based policy making for a sector that sits at the intersection of the unincorporated economy and traditional knowledge systems, IANS reported.

Source: IANS via Hi India

ASUSE, conducted since 2021-22, presents data on employment and gross value added in the unincorporated sector, which provides livelihoods to many people and supports economic activity through its linkages with the incorporated sector. To avoid a data gap during the transition, the January to March 2027 quarter will be surveyed using the existing questionnaire format from the 2026 round, DataStreet reported, and the initiatives from earlier rounds to strengthen quality, coverage and usefulness will continue in ASUSE 2027-28, according to the NSO statement.

Source: DataStreet

Sources

IANS via Hi India https://hiindia.com/nso-aims-to-align-asuse-survey-with-fiscal-year-stresses-on-policy-focused-queries/

IANS via NewKerala https://www.newkerala.com/news/a/nso-aims-align-asuse-survey-fiscal-year-stresses-217.htm

The Hindu BusinessLine https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/for-first-time-asuse-has-questions-about-issues-faced-by-females-in-operating-managing-their-establishments/article71627119.ece

DataStreet https://datastreet.in/asuse-to-track-hurdles-faced-by-women-entrepreneurs-shift-to-fy-cycle