India's informal sector deleverages: loans per unit drop 20% to Rs 42,776, capex falls 14%
MoSPI's ASUSE 2025 reveals 7.92 crore informal enterprises—99.94% micro—are pulling back. Outstanding loans per establishment fell 20% YoY, fixed asset additions dropped 14%, and interest payable shrank 16%, even as bank credit to micro/small industry rose 33%. Signals weak micro-enterprise confidence despite 74.5 lakh jobs added.
What happened
MoSPI ASUSE 2025 shows India's informal sector—covering small traders, manufacturers and service units—deleveraging: outstanding loans per establishment fell
Key facts
- interest payable -16%
- outstanding loans -20% to Rs 42,776
- fixed asset addition -14%
- GVA Rs 20 lakh crore (6.4% of national)
- 7.92 crore enterprises
- 99.94% micro
- 74.5 lakh jobs added
- pay +3.9%
- bank credit to micro/small +33% YoY
- 81% loans from institutional sources
- Kerala debt/est Rs 1.51 lakh
- Puducherry loans 14x to Rs 3.75 lakh
Why this matters
A retrenching informal sector creates consolidation openings—distressed micro-units and underbanked supplier networks become acquisition or aggregation targets for formalization plays and embedded-finance platforms.