The Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), the principal source of industrial statistics in India, recently released its provisional results. The survey, conducted from April 2021 to January 2022 through the ASI Web Portal, provides the most comprehensive data on organized manufacturing in India. It covers all factories employing 10 or more workers using power and those employing 20 or more workers without using power.
About the Annual Survey of Industries
The ASI is a yearly exercise carried out by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. By capturing data on factories with ten or more power-using workers and those with over twenty non-power-using workers, it offers a detailed overview of the nation’s organized manufacturing sector.
Highlights of the Survey
The survey noted a 1.7% year-on-year increase in the number of factories in the country, bringing the total to 2.46 lakh in 2019-20. These factories employed a total of 1.3 crore workers. In contrast, there was a smaller growth of 1.98% in the number of factories to 2.42 lakh in 2018-19, and a 1.2% growth after demonetisation in 2017-18.
Gross Fixed Capital Formation
There was a significant rise in gross fixed capital formation, an indicator of investment, within the organised manufacturing sector. It saw a growth of 20.5% to Rs 4.15 lakh crore in 2019-20, as compared to a 10.2% growth at Rs 3.44 lakh crore in the previous fiscal year.
Fixed Capital Description
Fixed capital refers to the depreciated value of fixed assets owned by the factory as of the closing day of the accounting year. This includes land, buildings, machinery, furniture and fixtures, transport equipment, water systems, roadways, and other fixed assets such as hospitals, schools, etc. used for factory workers.
Employment in the Corporate Sector
Employment within the corporate sector, encompassing public and private government and non-government companies, saw a 5.5% increase to 97.03 lakh in 2019-20. Simultaneously, there was a 3.1% decline in individual proprietorship to 11.36 lakh.
Partnership Employment Figures
The partnership sector experienced an 11.7% fall in employment to 18.58 lakh in the year 2019-20. On the contrary, the limited liability partnership witnessed significant growth of 42% in employment figures reaching 1.22 lakh.
Regional Employment Figures
Among states, Tamil Nadu recorded the highest employment figures in 2019-20, followed by Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Total Wages Paid
There was a rise in total wages paid to workers by 6.3% in 2019-20 as compared to a wage growth of 11.9% in the previous fiscal year. Specifically, wages to factory workers in the corporate sector rose by 7.7% in 2019-20.
This data encompasses all persons employed directly or indirectly through agencies, whether paid or unpaid, involved in any manufacturing process or in cleaning any part of the machinery or premises used in the manufacturing process.