The government said that employment in the MSME sector increased to 8.04 crore in FY2025-26. This shows steady growth over the last three years. Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the highest employment generating state, while the trading sector has the highest number of jobs.
New Delhi [भारत]July 23 (ANI): The government on Thursday said micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have reported more than 8.04 crore employment under the enterprise registration portal in the financial year 2025-26. This figure is higher than 6.91 crore in FY 2024-25 and 5.45 crore in FY 2023-24, reflecting a consistent increase in employment reported in the last three years.
Uttar Pradesh leads among the states
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for MSME Shobha Karandlaje shared the latest figures of enterprise employment for the last three financial years. According to the data, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of 1.18 crore MSME employment in the financial year 2025-26. This was followed by Maharashtra (67.97 lakh), Tamil Nadu (61.47 lakh), Telangana (60.56 lakh) and Bihar (55.54 lakh).
Most jobs in trading sector
Sector-wise details also show that trading remained the largest source of MSME employment with 2.98 crore employment in FY 2025-26. This is ahead of both the service sector (2.57 crore) and manufacturing (2.50 crore). This shows that trading enterprises currently have a larger share in employment within the enterprise ecosystem than manufacturing units.
Decline in employment in some states
However, the data also revealed a decline in reported employment in some states compared to the previous financial year. Reported MSME employment in Andhra Pradesh declined from 70.08 lakh in FY 2024-25 to 36.66 lakh in FY 2025-26, while in Karnataka it declined from 65.57 lakh to 50.87 lakh. Reported employment in Punjab also declined from 28.60 lakh to 14.96 lakh during the same period.
4,252 MSMEs closed in Kerala
The response came in response to a question that also sought information on the sustainability and quality of employment generated by newly established MSMEs, including their survival rates and the number of enterprises that have closed down, especially in Kerala. On this, the government said that 4,252 MSMEs were closed in Kerala during the last three years, while about 4.61 lakh MSMEs were registered in the state.
However, the responses did not provide any assessment of the quality of jobs, such as wages, job security or formal employment. No separate details of youth employment were given in it. (ANI)
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