Contextualizing the Difference between the Rural and Urban Informal Sector in India: An Empirical Exploration

Mehak Majeed () and Zahid Gulzar ()
Additional contact information
Mehak Majeed: Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora, Department of Economics
Zahid Gulzar: Department of Economics, Department of Higher Education

Journal of Quantitative Economics, 2025, vol. 23, issue 4, No 4, 1069-1090

Abstract: Abstract The Indian economy has been classified as a dual economy, being bifurcated into the formal and the informal sectors. It has been observed that the informal economy is a way of life of the people living in the South-Asia, touching the life of every person either directly or indirectly. Empirical evidence has been validating the positive returns accruing to the Indian informal sector in general. The Indian informal economy can be bifurcated into rural and urban fractions. The present study is an effort to empirically differentiate and analyze the rural and urban informal sector in India. The findings of the study establish the differentiated characteristics of these two sub-sectors answering the reasons behind the dichotomy. Validated by these findings, separate policy recommendations are forwarded in order to strengthen the aggregate outcomes of the Indian informal sector in particular and the South Asian informal sector in general.

Keywords: India; Informal Sector; Technical Efficiency; Rural; Urban (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E26 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40953-025-00463-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jqecon:v:23:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s40953-025-00463-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/40953

DOI: 10.1007/s40953-025-00463-9

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Quantitative Economics is currently edited by Dilip Nachane and P.G. Babu

More articles in Journal of Quantitative Economics from Springer, The Indian Econometric Society (TIES) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().