- Women-led firms rise to 27% in 2025
- Rural India drove growth in female-owned businesses
- Women-run firms boosted female employment
The government's Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) showed that 27 percent of all proprietary establishments in the unincorporated sector in India were led by women in 2025, compared to 26 percent in 2024.
The rise has been attributed to rural India, where the number of establishments led by women increased from 26.8 percent in 2023-24 to 27.9 percent in 2025, whereas it rose from 25.4 percent to 25.9 percent in urban areas.
Sixty percent of the female-founded businesses were in manufacturing, 13 percent were in trade and 15 percent in services, according to the survey.
Uttarakhand had the maximum increase in women entrepreneur-led manufacturing units, which went up from 33.5 percent in 2023-24 to 54.6 percent in 2025. There were also strong positive gains in Jharkhand (+12.1 percent) and Telangana (+7.4 percent).
Other key states also experienced increases. The percentage of women as owners of manufacturing establishments has increased from 20 percent to 26.2 percent in Delhi, from 45.1 percent to 48.5 percent in Haryana and from 55.3 percent to over 60 percent in Maharashtra.
The report emphasised the creation of job opportunities for women by women-run businesses. Approximately 72 percent of female-led establishments with workers employed had at least one female worker.
Females' share of manufacturing work rose to 48 percent in 2025 from 46.5 percent in 2023-24, and in services, the share of females increased to 24 percent in 2025 from 22.5 percent in 2023-24.
The unincorporated non-agricultural sector has contributed over 74 lakh jobs during the survey period, bringing the total employment to 12.8 crore. Women made up 29 percent of the workforce and nearly 22 percent of all female jobs were in wearing apparel.
The number of establishments increased by 7.97 percent to 7.92 crore and gross value added increased by 10.87 percent, driven by 17 percent growth in the trade sector. Institutional lending also picked up and more than 80 per cent of the loans are now channelled through formal means like banks and government schemes.
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