INDIA – Sixth Economic Census 2013-14

A reliable and robust database is the foundation of organized and proper planning. TheCentral Statistics Office (CSO), since its inception, has been instrumental in creation of database forvarious sectors of the economy and its periodic updation so as to meet the requirements of the plannersfor sound and systematic planning both at the macro as well as micro levels. While data requirementsmay be enormous in various sectors, the judicious collection and maintenance of data for varioussectors within the available resource is a challenge. Our economy can broadly be classified into twosectors, namely, Agricultural and Non-Agricultural sectors. Fairly reasonable database exists forAgricultural Sector whereas such data base for Non-Agricultural sector is much desired. Keeping inview the importance of the non-agricultural sector in the economy and non-availability of basic framefor adoption in various sampling techniques for collection of data and estimation of various parameters,conducting Economic Census was felt necessary. With this background, the CSO started EconomicCensus for preparing frame of establishments, particularly the ‘area frame’ which could be used forvarious surveys for collection of detailed data, mainly on non-agricultural sector of the economy.

1. EARLIER ATTEMPTS

Broadly the entire planning period may be divided into two: prior to conduct of the FirstEconomic Census i.e. prior to 1977 and thereafter i.e. after the economic census was carried outperiodically. Efforts to fill up the data gaps for the non-agricultural sector were made right from thebeginning of the First Five Year Plan. The first National Sample Survey (NSS) round (1950-51)covered non-agricultural household establishments as one of its subject themes. Such establishmentswere covered regularly up to the tenth NSS round (1955-56). Subsequently, selected activities weretaken up for survey intermittently in different rounds (14th, 23 rd & 29th rounds). Establishmentschedules were canvassed in 1971 population census. The census of unorganized industrial units wascarried out during 1971 -73. Census of the units falling within the purview of Development Commissioner, Small Scale Industries, was carried out during 1973-74 and a survey on distributivetrade was conducted by some of the States during the Fourth Five-Year Plan period (1969-74). Allsuch efforts made prior to 1977 to collect data on non-agricultural establishments have been partial andsporadic. Area sampling with probability proportional to population were mostly used even to captureestablishments. For a survey of establishments such sample design is not only inefficient but alsoresults in under coverage of desired number of establishments and low reliability of the estimatesderived. The prolonged efforts of statisticians and planners in finding a way out for collection ofinformation on amorphous areas of activity resulted in a decisive breakthrough with the advent ofconduct of Economic Census.

2. ECONOMIC CENSUSES CONDUCTED IN THE PAST

The Economic Enquiry Committee set up in 1925 under the Chairmanship of Dr.Visweswarayya and more importantly the Bowley-Robertson Committee set up later in 1934, were mainly responsible for the government’s decision to set up an Inter-Departmental Committee with theEconomic Adviser to the Government of India as the chairman. The Inter-Departmental Committeerecommended the formation of a Central Statistical Office for coordination, institution of a statisticalcadre, establishment of State Bureaus at State Head Quarters and maintenance of important statisticsfor the entire country. Bowley and Robertson Committee also commissioned a study to explore thepossibility of conducting economic censuses in India. The first coordinated approach was made by theerstwhile Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), Government of India, by launching a plan scheme’Economic Census and Surveys’ in 1976. The scheme envisaged organising countrywide census of alleconomic activities (excluding those engaged in crop production and plantation) followed by detailedsample surveys of unorganised segments of different sectors of non-agricultural economy in a phasedmanner during the intervening period of two successive economic censuses.The basic purpose of conducting the economic census (EC) was to prepare a frame for followup surveys intended to collect more detailed sector specific information between two economiccensuses. In view of the rapid changes that occur in the unorganised sectors of non-agriculturaleconomy due to high mobility or morbidity of smaller units and also on account of births of new units,the scheme envisaged conducting the economic census periodically in order to update the frame fromtime to time.

3. First Economic Census (EC -1977) and Follow Up Surveys

The First Economic Census was conducted throughout the country, except Lakshadweep,during 1977 in collaboration with the Directorate of Economics & Statistics (DES) in the States/UnionTerritories (UT). The coverage was restricted to only non-agricultural establishments employing atleast one hired worker on a fairly regular basis. Data on items such as description of activity, number ofpersons usually working, type of ownership, etc. were collected.Reports based on the data of EC-1977 at State/UT level and at all India level were published.Tables giving the activity group-wise distribution of establishments with selected characteristics andwith rural and urban break up were generated. State-wise details for major activities and size-class ofemployment in different establishments, inter-alia, were also presented in tables.Based on the frame provided by the First Economic Census, detailed sample surveys werecarried out during 1978-79 and 1979-80 covering the establishments engaged in manufacturing, trade,hotels & restaurants, transport, storage & warehousing and services. While the smaller establishments(employing less than six workers) and own account establishments were covered by National SampleSurvey Organisation (NSSO) as a part of its 33rd and 34th rounds, the larger establishments were covered through separate surveys by the CSO. Detailed information on employment, emoluments,capital structure, quantity & value of input, output, etc. were collected and reports giving all importantcharacteristics on each of the concerned subjects were published.

4. Second Economic Census (EC-1980) and Follow Up Surveys

The Second Economic Census was conducted in 1980 along with the house-listing operations ofPopulation Census 1981. This was done with a view to economizing resources, manpower, time andmoney. The scope and coverage were enlarged. This time all establishments engaged in economicactivities – both agricultural and non-agricultural whether employing any hired worker or not werecovered, except those engaged in crop production and plantation. All States/UTs were covered withthe sole exception of Assam, where Population Census 1981 was not conducted.The information on location of establishment, description of economic activity carried out,nature of operation, type of ownership, social group of owner, use of power/fuel, total number ofworkers usually engaged with its hired component and break-up of male and female workers werecollected. The items on which information were collected in Second Economic Census were more orless the same as those collected in the First Economic Census. However, based on experience gained inthe First Economic Census certain items viz. years of operation, value of annualoutput/turnover/receipt, mixed activity or not, registered/ licensed/recognised and act or authority, ifregistered were dropped.The field work was done by the field staff consisting of enumerators and supervisors employedin the Directorate of Census Operations of each State/UT. The State Directorates of Economics &Statistics (DES) were also associated in the supervision of fieldwork. Data processing and preparationof State level reports of economic census and their publication were carried out by the DES.Based on the frame thrown up by EC-1980, three follow-up surveys were carried out, one in1983-84 on hotels & restaurants, transport, storage & warehousing and services, second in 1984-85 onunorganised manufacturing and third in 1985- 86 on wholesale and retail trade.The economic census scheduled for 1986 could not be carried out due to resource constraints.However, the EC- 1980 frame was updated during 1987-88 in 64 cities (12 cities having more than 10lakh population and 52 other class-I cities) which had problems of identification of enumerationblocks and changes due to rapid urbanization. On the basis of the updated frame, four follow-upsurveys were conducted during 1988-89, 1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92 covering the subjects ofhotels & restaurants and transport, unorganized manufacturing, wholesale & retail trade and medical,educational, cultural & other services respectively.

5. Third Economic Census (EC-1990) and Follow Up Surveys

The Third Economic Census was synchronized with the house listing operations of the Population Census 1991 on the same pattern as EC- 1980. The coverage was similar to that of EC-1980. All States/UTs except Jammu & Kashmir, where Population Census 1991 was not undertaken,were covered.Based on the frame thrown up by EC-1990 four follow up surveys were carried out:(i) Establishment Survey covering sectors of mining & quarrying, storage & warehousingin 1992-93;(ii) Establishment Survey covering sectors of hotels & restaurants and transport in 1993-94;(iii) NSS 51 st round covering directory, non-directory and own account establishments inunregistered manufacturing sector in 1994-95; and(iv) Directory Trade Establishments Survey in 1996-97. NSS 53 rd round covered theresidual part of the unorganised trade sector in 1997.

6. Fourth Economic Census (EC-1998) and Follow up Surveys

With a view to meeting the demand of various user departments for the data on unorganizedsectors of the economy and considering the nature of large number of small units which are subjectedto high rates of mobility and mortality, it was felt that the economic census must be brought back toquinquennial nature so that an up-to-date frame can be made available once in five years forconducting the follow up surveys. Fourth economic census was planned during 1996. But due tovarious reasons, the scheme could be launched only in 1998.The overall responsibility for organisation and conduct of the economic census rested with theCSO. The DESs of States/UTs were made responsible for conducting the field work and preparing thereport for their respective State/UTs.Based on the frame thrown up by Economic Census 1998, the following follow-up surveyswere carried out:-(i) Special establishment survey in unorganized sector 1998-99.(ii) Survey on Unorganized Manufacturing sector: 2000-01 (NSS 56th round)(iii) Survey on Unorganized establishments in services sector (excluding trade and finance):2001-02 (NSS 57th round)(v) Survey on Unorganized Manufacturing sector: 2005-06 (NSS 62nd round)(vi) Survey on Unorganized establishments in services sector excluding trade: 2006-07 (NSS63rd round)

7. Fifth Economic Census (EC-2005) and Follow up Surveys

The Fifth Economic Census was conducted in 2005. The overall responsibility for organisationand conduct of Economic Census rested with the CSO. The DESs of respective States and UTs weremade responsible for conducting the field work and preparing the report concerning their States/UTs.Based on the frame thrown up by Fifth Economic Census, the following follow-up surveys werecarried out:-

(i) NSS 67th round during 2010-11 (Survey on Unincorporated Non-Agricultural Enterprises excluding Construction);

(ii) NSS 73rd round during 2015-16 with the coverage similar to that of NSS 67th round.

8. SIXTH ECONOMIC CENSUS

Economic Census (EC) is the complete count of all establishments (i.e. units engaged in production and/or distribution of goods and services not for the purpose of sole consumption) located within the geographical boundaries of the country. The Sixth EC was conducted during January, 2013 to April, 2014 in all the States and Union Territories of the country in collaboration with State/UT Governments. Overall guidance was provided by Economic Census Unit of the Economic Statistics Division, Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), Government of India.

9. Brief Objective of Sixth EC

The Sixth EC proposes to provide up to date information on number of establishments and number of persons employed therein, activity wise, of all the sectors (excluding crop production, plantation, public administration, defence and compulsory social security) of the country including their distribution at all-India, State, district, and at village/ward levels for comprehensive analysis of the structure of the economy (micro, macro and regional levels).

10. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SIXTH ECONOMIC CENSUS

* The Sixth Economic Census (EC) covered all States and Union Territories of Indian Union.

* Fieldwork was conducted during January, 2013 to April, 2014 in collaboration with State/UT Governments.

* The EC enumerated all establishments engaged in various agricultural and non-agricultural activities excluding crop production, plantation, public administration, defence and compulsory social security.

* Data for handicraft/handloom establishments were collected for the first time.

* Enumeration Blocks (EBs) of Population Census, 2011 were used as the primary geographical

units for collection of data.

* About 1.17 million enumerators and supervisors were engaged to collect the data from about 2.45

million EBs of Population Census, 2011.

ESTABLISHMENTS

* As per the Sixth Economic Census (2013), 58.5 million establishments were found to be in operation. 34.8 million establishments (59.48%) were found in rural areas and nearly 23.7 million establishments (40.52%) were found to be located in urban areas.

* Out of 58.5 million establishments, about 77.6% establishments (45.36 million) were engaged in non-agricultural activities (excluding public administration, defence and compulsory social security activities) while the remaining 22.4% establishments (13.13 million) were found to be engaged in agricultural activities (excluding crop production and plantation).

* Over an intervening period of about 8 years between Fifth EC and Sixth EC, the total number of establishments in the country increased from 41.25 million in 2005 (EC2005) to 58.5 million in 2013 (EC2013), registering a growth of 41.79% during the period. The growth was 38.37% in rural areas and 47.13% in urban areas.

* During the period between the two Economic Censuses (2005 & 2013), non-agricultural establishments grew at the rate of 28.97%, while agricultural establishments grew at the rate of 115.98%.

* Out of the total establishments, 22.6% belong to primary sector of which agriculture sector constitutes 22.45%, mining and quarrying constitutes 0.15%, 19.72% belongs to secondary sector (including construction which contributes 1.66%) and 57.68% pertain to tertiary sector.

* 41.97 million (71.74%) were Own Account Establishments (i.e. establishments without any hired worker) and the remaining 16.53 million (28.26%) were establishments with at least one hired worker. Own Account Establishments grew at the rate of 56.02% while the growth of establishments with hired workers was 15.11%, since 2005.

* Out of 58.50 million establishments, around 96.4% establishments were under private ownership and remaining 3.6% establishments reported their ownership as Government or PSU. Proprietary establishments were 89.39%.

* More than one third (36.19%) of all the establishments in the country were home based establishments i.e. inside household. Another 18.44% establishments were operating from outside household without fixed structure, and the remaining 45.37% establishments were operating from outside households with fixed structure.

* Majority of the establishments (93.0%) were perennial in nature. Around 5.9% of the establishments were seasonal and remaining 1.1 % of the establishments were casual.

* Top five States viz. Uttar Pradesh (11.43%), Maharashtra (10.49%), West Bengal (10.10%), Tamil Nadu (8.60%) and Andhra Pradesh (7.25%) together accounted for about 50% of the total number of establishments in the country.

* Livestock was the major economic activity (86.74%) of agricultural sector. Retail Trade (35.41%) followed by Manufacturing (22.77%) were the dominant ones within the nonagricultural sector.

* Among the States, maximum growth rate of establishments during 2005-2013 was observed in Manipur (121.07%) followed by Assam (107.99%) and Sikkim (100.07%).

PROPRIETARY ESTABLISHMENTS

* 89.39% of the establishments were owned by proprietors.

* Among the proprietary establishments, 15.4% were owned by females.

* 73.70% of the establishments were owned by Hindus, 13.8% by the followers of Islam, 2.60% by Christians and the rest (9.90%) by the followers of other religions.

EMPLOYMENT

* Around 131.29 million persons were found employed in 58.5 million establishments. Out of the total 131.29 million persons, 67.89 million persons (51.71%) were employed in rural areas and 63.4 million persons (48.29%) in urban areas. While employment in Own Account Establishments was of the order of 58.15 million persons (44.29%), the employment in

establishments with at least one hired worker was about 73.14 million persons (55.71%).

Agricultural establishments provided employment to around 22.88 million persons (17.42%) and the non-agricultural establishments provided employment to around 108.41 million persons (82.58%).

* The growth rate of employment since 2005 was of the order of 38.13%.

* Out of the total employment of 131.29 million persons, 98.25 million persons (74.83%) were male and 33.04 million persons (25.17%) were female.

* 7.2% of the workers were employed in Government or Public Sector Undertakings, 78.5% of the

workers in proprietary establishments and rest 14.3% in Private Companies/SHGs/Cooperatives etc.

* Around 57.14 million persons (43.53%) were hired workers and the remaining 74.14 million

persons (56.47%) were not-hired workers. Among the total workers, 74.83% were male and 25.17% female.

* Manufacturing sector was the largest employer providing employment to 30.3 million (23.1%)

persons. This was followed by retail trade employing 27.19 million persons (20.7%) and livestock sector employing 19.4 million persons (14.8 %).

* Distribution of establishments by size class of employment reveals that around 55.86 million establishments (95.50%) were having 1 -5 workers, around 1.83 million establishments (3.13%) were having 6-9 workers, while 0.8 million establishments (1.37%) employed 10 or more workers.

* The top five States viz. Maharashtra (11 .05%), Uttar Pradesh (10.75%), West Bengal (9.07%), Tamil Nadu (8.91%) and Gujarat (7.32%) accounted for almost half of the total employment in

the country.

* Highest growth rate of employment was, however, observed in Manipur (93.57%), followed by Assam (89.32%) and Uttar Pradesh (79.94%).

* Overall average employment per establishment in Sixth EC was 2.24, as against 2.30 in Fifth EC. Average employment per establishment in Sixth EC was 1.39 for Own Account Establishments and 4.42 in case of establishments with at least one hired worker.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

* Total number of establishments owned by women entrepreneurs was 8.05 million (13.76%). These establishments provided employment to 13.45 million persons (10.24%), out of which 83.19% were without hired workers. About 88.8% of the workers were employed in the establishments hiring less than 10 workers. Total number of Self Help Groups (SHGs) were 0.19 million out of which all women Own Account Establishments were 89%.

* Out of establishments under women entrepreneurs, about 34.3% belonged to agricultural activities, with livestock dominating therein having a share of 31.6%. Among non-agricultural activities owned by women entrepreneurs, manufacturing and retail trade were the dominant ones with corresponding percentages being 29.8% and 17.8% respectively.

* Out of the total establishments under women entrepreneurs, percentage share of various social and religious groups was as follows: OBC: 40.60%, SC: 12.18%, ST: 6.97% and Others (40.25%); Hindus: 65.6%, Muslim: 12.84% and Christian: 5.2%.

* Among the states, the largest share in number of establishments under women entrepreneurship was held by Tamil Nadu (13.51%) followed by Kerala (11.35%), Andhra Pradesh (10.56%), West Bengal (10.33%) and Maharashtra (8.25%).

* Average employment per establishment for women owned establishments was found to be 1.67.

HANDICRAFT/HANDLOOM ESTABLISHMENTS

* Total number of Handicraft/Handloom establishments was 1.87 million (1.71%). These establishments provided employment to 4.20 million persons (3.12%). Out of the total establishments, 78.9% were without hired workers. About 67.0% of the handicraft/handloom establishments were outside the household without fixed structure or inside household.

* Majority of establishments i.e. 96.6% were owned by proprietors. Further, 21.89% establishments were owned by females while 77.74% establishments were owned by males. Nearly 68.22% of proprietary establishments of handicrafts/handloom were owned by Hindus, 24.78% of these by followers of Islam and 1.88% by Christians. Out of these proprietary establishments, 47.6% were owned by OBCs, 13.87% by SCs and 6.51% by STs.

* Among the States, West Bengal had the largest share (17.62%) in total number of Handicraft/Handloom establishments followed by Uttar Pradesh (16.55%), Odisha (7.80%), Andhra Pradesh (7.54%) and Tamil Nadu (6.80%).

* Average employment per establishment for handicraft/handloom establishments was found to be 2.24.

Visited each and every house/ structure/building (residential & non residential) within the allotted Enumeration Block(EB) of Population Census 2011 without exception and fill up the schedules. Adequate care was taken to list all the establishments within the EB. Establishments with fixed structure would be covered at the place of operation/site against the structure housing them, whereas, establishments without permanent (fixed) structure (e.g. activities of selling of goods in open areas in a market) were listed against the households where the respective entrepreneur/owner resides. Thus, while visiting the households, due probing was made to identify such establishments, if any, run by the household members and list them against the households only in different lines of schedule 6A.