Trade Survey: July-June 1990-91

Survey on Non-Directory Enterprises and Own Account Establishments : NSS 46th Round July-June 1990-91

Note: In absence of documents on 46th round, information from 53rd round which is the repeat survey is being used:

The second Economic Census was conducted in 1980. It had a wider coverage than the earlier one in the sense that it covered the own-account enterprises (units without any hired worker are called Own-Account Enterprises or OAEs) also. In this census the establishments were further split into two categories : Directory Establishments (DEs) and Non-Directory Establishments (NDEs); the former employed a total of six or more workers, while the l atter employed a total of five or fewer workers. Thus, the second Economic Census dealt with three categories of units, viz. DEs, NDEs and OAEs. This census provided a list of villages / enumeration blocks (EBs) giving a count of enterprises and establishments, which has been used by the NSSO as a frame for sample villages / EBs in its follow-up surveys. Two such surveys of units engaged in trading activities were taken up by the NSSO in its forty-first round (July 1985 to June 1986) and forty-sixth round (July 1990 to June 1991).

All the second-stage units (i.e. trading enterprises) were listed through a listing schedule. This list constituted the frame for drawing the required number of sample enterprises from each first -stage unit. The enterprises were divided into three enterprise classes on the basis of the number of workers employed, from each of which a certain specified number of enterprises were selected. Information collected through the listing schedule was used for calculating multipliers and for estimation o f the number of enterprises. The enterprise schedule was canvassed in the selected sample enterprises for collecting information on basic items like fixed assets, employment, purchase and sale values, other expenditure, value added and trade margins of commodities traded. Enterprises were selected in this round from three enterprise classes. The main characteristics on which information were collected are fixed assets, employment, purchase and sale values, other expenditure, other receipts, value added and trade margin of the traded goods. Reference period for collection of data was 'month' except for fixed assets and trade margin, where the reference period used was 'last one year'.

The 46th round schedule 2.41.2 consistsed of 14 blocks.

All the enterprises covered by the two-digit codes (called divisions) 60 to 68 and three-digit codes (called groups) 040, 052, 053, 054, 059, 060, 061, 063, 069 and 890 under the revised National Industrial Classification, 1987 (NIC, 1987) were considered for this survey. Strictly speaking, the activity codes 040,052,..,069, which represent various free collection activities for sale, should be covered under agriculture. But value added for such activities were not regularly available from official sources. As such, they were covered under unorganised trade since the NSS 34th round.

Important concepts and definitions:

Trade : Trading is defined as an act of purchase of goods and their disposal by way of sale without any intermediate physical transformation of goods. The activities of intermediaries who do not actually purchase or sell the goods but arrange their pur­chase and sale and thereby earn remuneration by way of brokerage or commission, are also covered for the purpose of trade sur­vey. Distributive agencies which undertake trading activity on commission basis are also included. In addition, the activities of free collection for sale of honey and forest products like gathering of fodder, grass, etc.; free hunting, trapping and game propagation for commercial purposes; free collection for sale of fish, prawns, crabs and oysters; free collection for sale of waste paper, ash, rags, coal, etc., are also treated as trade for this survey. Separate and distinct trading units of manufacturing concerns like sale shops of Delhi Cotton Mill, Bombay Dyeing, Bata Shoe, etc., and activities like selling of fruit juice, sugar­cane juice, etc. which involve a process of transformation mar­ginally are also covered under trade.

Trading enterprise: A trading enterprise is an undertaking/unit engaged in trade. An enterprise may be owned and operated by a household or by an institutional body. The activi­ties of the enterprise may be carried on by household members and/or by hiring outside labour.

Own-account enterprise: An enterprise which is run by house­hold workers only (i.e. without any hired worker on a fairly regular basis ) is termed as an own-account enterprise. If such an enterprise is engaged in trading, it is termed as an own-account trading enterprise (OATE).

Establishment: An enterprise which is employing at least one hired worker on a fairly regular basis is termed as an establishment.

Non-directory establishment : An establishment employing fewer than six workers (household and hired workers taken togeth­er) is termed as a non-directory establishment. If such an estab­lishment is engaged in trading activities, it is termed as a non-directory trading establishment (NDTE).

Reference period : It means the period for which informa­tion on a particular characteristic is collected.