Guess the number
What share of India's 7.9 crore small businesses have hired workers?
About 13% (13.4%). The rest are run by their owners, sometimes with unpaid family help.
Key facts
- India has about 7.92 crore small unincorporated businesses, employing 12.81 crore people (2025), up 7.97% and 6.18% in a year.
- Only 13.36% have hired workers. The other 86.6% are own-account businesses, run by the owner, often with unpaid family help.
- Only 39.4% use the internet for their business.
- 27.0% are owned by women: about 2.1 crore businesses.
Small businesses in India employ more than 12 crore people, yet most of them are a single person, or a family, running a shop, a workshop or a service. MoSPI’s Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) 2025 counts 7.92 crore such businesses, and finds that fewer than one in seven has hired workers on a fairly regular basis.
Published November 2026. All figures: MoSPI, ASUSE 2025 factsheet (survey January to December 2025, released March 2026). "Unincorporated" businesses are those not registered as companies: proprietorships, partnerships, and similar.
India’s small businesses at a glance
Table of Contents
| 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Small unincorporated businesses | 7.92 crore |
| People working in them | 12.81 crore |
| Growth in businesses, one year | 7.97% |
| Growth in workers, one year | 6.18% |
| People working per business | 1.62 |
| Businesses with hired workers | 13.36% |
| Businesses using the internet for business | 39.4% |
| Owned by women | 27.0% |
| Value added per business a year | ₹2,52,699 |
| Value added per worker a year | ₹1,56,539 |
| Pay per hired worker a year | ₹1,46,550 (about ₹12,212 a month) |
Most are owner-run
"Own-account" businesses have no hired worker on a fairly regular basis; they are run by the owner, sometimes helped by unpaid family members. They make up 86.6% of India’s small businesses. On average, a small business has just 1.62 people working in it, owner included.
The step from owner-run to employer is where small businesses create jobs. About 106 lakh businesses have hired workers today; every owner-run business that takes on its first hired worker adds a job.
Six in ten are offline
Only 39.4% of small businesses use the internet for business: 60.6% do not. That is a striking gap in a country where internet use among women aged 15 to 49 has nearly doubled in four years (women’s internet use). Customers have moved online faster than most small businesses have.
City businesses add twice the value
A typical small business adds ₹2,52,699 a year in value (output minus the cost of inputs, which pays for wages and the owner’s income). Urban businesses add ₹3,49,317, about 2.1 times rural businesses (₹1,68,730). Investment is rising: fixed assets per business grew from ₹3,24,075 to ₹3,42,242 (5.6%).
What it means
- For policymakers: helping owner-run businesses take on their first hired worker is one of the most direct routes to more jobs.
- For banks, payment and software companies: six in ten small businesses are not yet online, the largest untapped market in Indian business services.
- For entrepreneurs: most competitors are small and offline; a simple website, a Google listing and digital payments set a business apart. See Get Online.
Explore the data
Questions
How many small businesses are there in India?
About 7.92 crore unincorporated businesses in 2025, employing 12.81 crore people (MoSPI, ASUSE 2025).
What share of India’s small businesses have employees?
13.36% have hired workers; the other 86.6% are run by their owners, sometimes with unpaid family help.
How many small businesses use the internet?
39.4% use the internet for their business.
Sources
- MoSPI, Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) 2025, factsheet (released 24 March 2026).
See our methodology. Cite as: Advanton (2026), "India Has 7.9 Crore Small Businesses, and 87% Have No Hired Workers".
Last reviewed November 12, 2026. Startup costs are estimates; check local prices, licensing and tax rules before you commit money.