Indian economic census is the census of the Indian economy through counting all entrepreneurial units in the country which are involved in any economic activities of either agricultural or non-agricultural sector which engaged in production and/or distribution of goods and/or services not for the sole purpose of own consumption.
[1] The economic census provides detailed information on operational and other characteristics such as number of establishments, number of persons employed, source of finance, type of ownership etc.
These information used for micro level/ decentralized planning and to assess contribution of various sectors of the economy in the gross domestic product (GDP).
[2] In 1976, the Government of India launched a plan scheme called Economic Census and Surveys.
However, the data collected by the census organization were handed over to the state Directorates of economics and Statistics for processing and publication.