The number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as of September 10, 2024 amounted to 6.37 million, which is 4.5% more than at the same time in 2023. RB.RU has learned the data from the Unified Register of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of the Federal Tax Service.
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As of September 10, 2024, out of 6.37 million companies, 4.2 million are individual entrepreneurs (IP), 2.2 million are legal entities. As of September 10, 2023, individual entrepreneurs accounted for 3.9 million records, legal entities – 2.21 million. The data of the Federal Tax Service take into account individual entrepreneurs and legal entities and do not take into account self-employed persons.
The number of SME employees in 2024 decreased slightly, by 0.1%, from 15.13 million people to 15.11 million people.
Sergei Elin, an expert on financial and legal security of companies at the Moscow branch of Opora Rossii, in a conversation with RB.RU suggested that the increase in the number of SMEs is associated with the transformation of hired employees into the status of individual entrepreneurs.
“We see that the situation with the number of people working in small and medium-sized businesses is not getting worse in general, and we can even see a slight increase in this area. This suggests that, despite all the challenges we have to face, the Russian economy in terms of small and medium-sized businesses is moving forward,” says Elin.
The growth in the number of SMEs may be due to adaptation to economic conditions, government support and technological changes, added Anastasia Chumak, co-head of Intercession’s investor rights protection practice.
The decline in the total number of workers employed in the SME segment can be explained by process automation, changes in the structure of employment or business optimization, he believes.
“Many small and medium-sized businesses may be reducing their workforce by replacing it with technology or increasing the workload of existing staff. Therefore, the growth in the number of SMEs, combined with a slight decline in employment, seem to be symptoms of changes in the economic and social environment,” Chumak concluded.
According to the Federal Tax Service, about 32% of small and medium-sized businesses are registered in the Central Federal District (FD), 17% are registered in the Volga Federal District, 12% in the Southern Federal District, 11% in the North-West Federal District. In the Siberian Federal District it is 10%, in the Ural Federal District – 8%. The Far Eastern District accounts for 5% of all small businesses, the North Caucasus – 4%, and the South-Western regions of Russia – 2%.
Author:
Anastasia Marina
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
