Counted in millions, concentrated in few: Women in India’s non-agricultural informal sector

For millions of women in India, the informal economy outside agriculture remains an important source of employment and livelihood. Over time, both the size of this workforce and women’s share of total employment have increased. The number of female workers in unincorporated non-agricultural establishments, excluding construction, rose from 28.5 million in the National Sample Survey (NSS) 67th Round (2010-11) to 34.6 million in the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) 2023-24, while their share of the total workforce increased from 26.4 percent to 27.9 percent over the same period.

Yet the size of the workforce tells only part of the story. The nature of women’s participation in the informal economy depends also on the activities they work in, where they are located, and the industries that employ them. This article looks at women’s work through these different dimensions. It examines the share of female workers across the three broad activity categories: manufacturing, trade and other services; their rural and urban composition within these categories; and the industries within each where female workers were concentrated in 2024.

The analysis draws on unit-level data on unincorporated non-agricultural establishments, excluding construction, from the NSS 67th round (2010-11) and 73rd round (2015-16), along with the ASUSE rounds for 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24, accessed through CEDA’s Economic Enterprises Data Tracker. The earlier NSS rounds collected data on these establishments once every five years, before ASUSE was introduced as an annual survey in 2021-22. The article follows the survey definition of a worker, which includes anyone on an establishment’s payroll, as well as working owners and unpaid family members assisting in entrepreneurial activity. It also includes helpers, apprentices and interns engaged by the establishment, whether in primary or supervisory roles.

Manufacturing leads across broad activity categories in women’s workforce share

Figure 1 shows the share of female workers in unincorporated non-agricultural establishments across the three broad activity categories. Manufacturing recorded the highest share of female workers across all the survey years. The female share of informal manufacturing workers increased from 35.9 percent in 2011 to 46.5 percent in 2024, an increase of 10.6 percentage points, bringing women close to half of its workforce. In trade, the female share fell initially before recovering after 2016, rising from 14.6 percent in 2011 to 19.2 percent in 2024, an increase of 4.6 percentage points. Other Services was the only broad activity category where the female share remained below its 2011 level, falling by 6 percentage points from 28.3 percent in 2011 to 22.3 percent in 2024.

Women informal workers cluster in rural manufacturing and urban services

Figure 2 shows the rural and urban composition of female workers in unincorporated non-agricultural establishments across the three broad activity categories. Manufacturing remained predominantly rural, with rural areas accounting for 60.5 percent of female workers in both 2011 and 2016. This share rose to 65.3 percent in 2022 before falling to 61.8 percent by 2024. Trade was more evenly split, with the rural share declining from 55.8 percent in 2011 to 48 percent in 2016, before rising to 53.1 percent in 2024. Other services recorded a decline in the rural share of female workers, from 61.5 percent in 2011 to 31.2 percent in 2016. By 2024, 67.6 percent of female workers in other services were located in urban areas.

In 2024, textiles, tobacco, and food-related industries dominated women’s employment in informal manufacturing

Figure 3 shows the distribution of female workers across informal manufacturing industries in 2024. Nearly two-thirds (63.5 percent) of female informal manufacturing workers were engaged in textiles, textile products, and leather and footwear, while another one-fifth (20.1 percent) worked in food, beverages and tobacco. Together, these two industries employed more than four in five (83.6 percent) female manufacturing workers.

This concentration is consistent with CEDA’s earlier finding that women hold a majority of ownership in four manufacturing industries, including textiles, wearing apparel and tobacco products. With working owners included in the definition of workers, the distribution captures women’s presence in manufacturing both through employment and enterprise ownership.

More than nine in ten female workers in informal trade were engaged in retail in 2024

Figure 4 shows the distribution of female workers across informal trade industries in 2024. More than 9 in 10 (95.3 percent) female informal trade workers were engaged in retail trade, excluding motor vehicles and motorcycles. Wholesale trade accounted for 3.9 percent, while wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles accounted for 0.8 percent of female workers in the informal trade.

Health, care and social work led female employment in informal other services in 2024

Figure 5 shows the distribution of female workers across informal other services industries in 2024. Nearly two in five female informal other services workers (38.6 percent) were engaged in human health, residential care and social work without accommodation, the largest category, while 24.8 percent worked in repair and other personal services. As the definition of workers includes working owners, this concentration also reflects women’s participation as enterprise owners, consistent with CEDA’s earlier analysis, which found that women constitute a majority of enterprise owners in social work without accommodation and other personal services. Food and beverage services accounted for a further 16.7 percent. Together, these three industry groups accounted for four in five (80.1 percent) of female workers in informal other services.

Taken together, the findings show that women’s growing presence in the informal sector outside agriculture remains concentrated in a narrow set of activities and industries, pointing to an expansion in numbers without a comparable broadening of where women work. Hence, a comprehensive assessment must look beyond participation to examine where women work, the activities in which they are engaged, and the economic settings in which their employment is concentrated. Such an understanding can inform interventions that respond to the industries and settings in which women work, while improving access to more productive and sustainable employment and strengthening the conditions under which they work.

CEDA’s Economic Enterprises Data Tracker brings India’s formal and informal enterprises into a single, comparable view. Drawing on ASI, ASUSE, and earlier NSS rounds, it standardises key indicators on investment, productivity, credit, employment, and enterprise characteristics. Users can explore each survey separately or compare trends across sectors using harmonised data. With interactive charts, state-level insights, and downloadable datasets, the tracker provides a clearer, consolidated view of India’s enterprise economy for research and policy use