Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises (ASISSE) Feedback on Draft Questionnaire
Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises (ASISSE) Feedback on Draft Questionnaire
The service sector is a key driver of India’s economy, contributing more than 50% to the country’s GDP and providing millions of jobs. Accurate and comprehensive data on this sector is crucial for informed policymaking, strategic planning, and investment decisions.
While the unincorporated part of the service sector is regularly covered in the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE), there is a lack of consistent data on the economic and operational characteristics, employment, and related aspects of the incorporated services sector, especially with industry-wise and State/UT-wise breakdowns. This data gap is primarily due to the absence of a regular national-level survey covering the various subsectors of the incorporated non-agricultural and non-manufacturing sectors.
To address this gap, the National Statistics Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), has conceived the Annual Survey of Incorporated Services Sector Enterprises (ASISSE) to comprehensively cover the incorporated service sector of the economy.
The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) dataset belonging to corporate ‘Construction’, ‘Trade’ and ‘Other Services’ (including transport, accommodation and food services, information and communication, health, education, real estate, etc.) has been envisaged as the sampling frame for ASISSE.
Prior to the launch of the comprehensive full-fledged annual survey, a pan-India Pilot Study [by the name Annual Survey of Services Sector Enterprises (ASSSE)] was carried out in two phases using the GSTN frame, primarily with an objective to test the suitability of the GSTN database as sampling frame, verify and update selected frame information (in Phase-I during May – August, 2024) and to test the operational modalities such as, response of the enterprises, adequacy of the instruction, structure of the questionnaire, collectability of information, etc. (in Phase-II during November, 2024 to January, 2025).
The Technical Report on the pilot study can be accessed on the website of MoSPI using the link:https://mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/publication_reports/TECHNICAL%20REPORT_ASSSE.pdf.
To finalise the survey methodology and fine-tune the instruments based on the experience of the Pilot Study and stakeholders’ need, a Brainstorming Session was conducted with stakeholders from Government, industry, and academia on 13th August 2025 at Delhi. Valuable inputs were gathered during this session.
Based on the experience of the pilot study and deliberations in the brainstorming session, the questionnaire of ASISSE has been prepared under the overall guidance of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for Enterprise Surveys (constituted in order to provide technical guidance for Enterprise Surveys pertaining to NSO).
The Draft questionnaire of ASISSE is now uploaded on the MoSPI website for wider consultation. Researchers, policymakers, industry bodies, academic institutions, and the public are invited to review the questionnaire and share their feedback/suggestions on its structure, content, and coverage. These inputs will help enhance the quality, coverage, and policy relevance of the forthcoming ASISSE.
Suggestions and comments may be sent to the email IDs nssocpd.coord@mospi.gov.in and tc.dpd@mospi.gov.in by 31st October, 2025 in the specific format.
The draft questionnaire along with the format for feedbback can be accessed at
https://mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/announcements/Circular_17102025.pdf?download=1