New Delhi [India], July 23 (ANI): The government on Thursday said Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) reported more than 8.04 crore employment under the UDYAM registration portal in FY2025-26, up from 6.91 crore in FY2024-25 and 5.45 crore in FY2023-24, indicating a steady rise in reported employment over the past three years.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for MSMEs Shobha Karandlaje shared the latest UDYAM employment data for the last three financial years.

According to the data, Uttar Pradesh reported the highest MSME employment in FY2025-26 at 1.18 crore, followed by Maharashtra (67.97 lakh), Tamil Nadu (61.47 lakh), Telangana (60.56 lakh) and Bihar (55.54 lakh).

The sector-wise breakup also indicates that trading remained the largest source of reported MSME employment in FY2025-26 at 2.98 crore, ahead of both services (2.57 crore) and manufacturing (2.50 crore), suggesting that trading enterprises currently account for a bigger share of employment under the UDYAM ecosystem than manufacturing units.

However, the data also showed that reported employment declined in some states compared with the previous financial year.

Andhra Pradesh's reported MSME employment fell from 70.08 lakh in FY2024-25 to 36.66 lakh in FY2025-26, while Karnataka declined from 65.57 lakh to 50.87 lakh. Punjab's reported employment also dropped from 28.60 lakh to 14.96 lakh during the same period.

The reply came in response to a question that also sought details on the sustainability and quality of employment generated by newly established MSMEs, including their survival rate and the number of enterprises that had ceased operations, particularly in Kerala.

On this, the government said, 4,252 MSMEs had closed or shut down in Kerala during the last three years, while around 4.61 lakh MSMEs had been registered in the state.

However, the reply did not provide any assessment of the quality of jobs, such as wages, job security or formal employment. It also did not provide a separate breakup of youth employment. (ANI)