West Bengal topped the list of states with the worst performance, losing 3 million employment in unincorporated firms over the seven-year period from 2015–16 to 2022–23, according to statistics from the National Statistical Office (NSO).

According to the NSO's most recent Annual Survey on Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE) report for 2021–22 and 2022–23, Maharashtra added 2.4 million jobs during that time.

The number of workers in the informal sector of the economy decreased in as many as 13 out of 28 states and three Union Territories (UTs) between 2015–16 and 2022–23, according to a study using data from the National Sample Survey's 73rd round on unincorporated firms for 2015–16.

In addition to West Bengal, the seven-year period saw employment losses in Karnataka (1.3 million), Tamil Nadu (1.2 million), Uttar Pradesh (791,000), Andhra Pradesh (677,000), Kerala (640,000), Assam (494,000), and Telangana (344,000).

Positively, the number of people engaged in the informal sector increased in Gujarat (762,000), Odisha (761,000), and Rajasthan (756,000), excluding Maharashtra.

According to the report, among the UTs, Chandigarh (51,000) and Puducherry (32,000) saw the largest declines in the number of workers in unincorporated firms, with Delhi seeing a decrease of over 300,000 to 1.99 million from 2.3 million during the same time. There are no comparable data available for the Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir UTs.

The unincorporated sector contributes significantly to the nation's gross domestic product in addition to having a huge number of enterprises and employing a considerable number of trained, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers.

Small companies, vendors, hawkers, partnerships, sole proprietorships, and other companies not formed under the Companies Act of 1956 or the Companies Act of 2013 are usually included in this category.