By IANS,
New Delhi : India had an estimated 16.5 million service enterprises in 2006-07, with 60 percent of them in rural areas and 90 percent in the form of sole proprietorships, official data showed Friday.
The data, which helps government frame policies, assists demographers and gives key inputs for marketing strategies by the corporate sector, also showed that 33.5 million people worked in the service sector, 54 percent in rural areas.
The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) released the statistics, giving the operational characteristics of service sector enterprises, excluding trade, in India during 2006-07, based on the 63rd round of its survey.
The term service sector enterprises did not take into account the activities of the government and public sector undertakings, as also those covered under the NSSOs annual survey of industries.
The services covered include hotels, restaurants, warehousing, transport, communication, financial intermediation, real estate, renting, education, health and social work and other community, social and personal services.
The other highlights of the findings include:
– Own account enterprises, or those without hired workers, comprised 85 percent of all enterprises
– Uttar Pradesh had the highest share of 14 percent of enterprises, followed by 13 percent for West Bengal and 10 percent for Andhra Pradesh
– Maharashtra, with 9 percent and Tamil Nadu with 7 percent followed next
– These top five states accounted for 53 percent of enterprises at all-India level
– Transport, storage and communications accounted or 25 percent of workers, followed by 17 percent for financial intermediation and 15 percent for hotels and restaurants
– Some 86 percent of all enterprises did not receive assistance from any government or non-government agencies
– Around 81 percent of working owners or managing partners of proprietary or partnership enterprises were literate with some formal education
– Even in rural areas, literacy with some formal education was as high as 77 percent, though only about 10 percent of the enterprises maintained accounts.