India's 46 Largest Cities House 2 Crore Informal Workers, Report Reveals
Contrary to the common perception that informal businesses are predominantly rural, a new government report highlights the significant size of the informal sector in India's urban centres. According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the country's 46 most populous cities—those with populations exceeding 1 million as per the 2011 Census—are home to approximately 1.98 crore informal workers employed in about 1 crore informal establishments.
The report, based on the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) for 2025, identifies Greater Hyderabad as the city with the highest number of informal workers at 15.7 lakh. Kolkata leads in the number of informal establishments, with 8.84 lakh. Six cities—Greater Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Surat, Greater Mumbai, and Jaipur—each have more than 10 lakh informal workers, collectively accounting for 40% of all informal workers in these 46 cities. These six cities also host approximately 39 lakh informal establishments, or 39% of the total in the surveyed cities.
Nationally, the informal workforce stood at 12.81 crore in 2025. Among the 46 cities, women constitute about 26% of informal workers, or roughly 52 lakh. Greater Visakhapatnam recorded the highest proportion of female workers at 42.5%, followed closely by Surat at 41.4%. Srinagar had the lowest share at 10.5%, with Varanasi just above at 12.1%.
The report, titled 'Unincorporated Enterprises in Million-Plus Cities,' is the second such release from MoSPI focusing on India's largest urban centres. Geeta Singh Rathore, Director General of MoSPI's National Sample Survey, noted that these estimates, derived from sample survey data, may reflect variations due to differences in economic structure, industrial composition, local conditions, and sampling variability.
The 46 million-plus cities span 17 states and Union Territories: Maharashtra (10 cities), Uttar Pradesh (7), Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh (4 each), Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan (3 each), Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, and West Bengal (2 each), and one each from Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, and Telangana. These cities account for about 13% of all unincorporated non-agricultural establishments, 16% of workers, and 21% of Gross Value Added (GVA) in this sector nationwide.
The ASUSE 2025 survey also revealed that the number of informal establishments across India increased by 58.5 lakh to 7.92 crore in 2025, down from an increase of 83.5 lakh in 2023-24. Consequently, job creation slowed to 74.5 lakh in 2025 compared to 1.1 crore in the previous 12-month period. Informal sector wages rose by only 3.9% in 2025, less than half the 13% growth recorded in 2023-24.
In terms of emoluments per worker—calculated only for establishments with hired workers—Jaipur reported the highest average at Rs 2.33 lakh, followed by Greater Hyderabad at Rs 2.14 lakh. The report underscores the crucial role of urban informal enterprises in India's economy and the need for targeted policy interventions to address challenges such as wage stagnation and job quality.
