The Ministry of Economic Development reported a 3% increase in the number of small and medium-sized companies in Russia over the year

In Russia, the number of small and medium-sized companies increased by 3% over the year, reaching almost 6.4 million. This was reported to Izvestia by the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

According to Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, this is the highest figure since 2017, when the Unified Register of SMEs was launched.

"We are recording a steady positive trend: compared to the previous period, the number of SMEs increased by 3.2%, or about 200 thousand. Such results confirm the high role of small and medium—sized businesses in the country's economy and the effectiveness of measures taken to support and develop them," he said following the annual update of the register.

As Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, emphasized, more and more enterprises demonstrate dynamic development, going beyond the criteria established for SMEs.

"Previously, about 3 thousand companies made an annual transition outside the SME sector, but this year their number has approached 5 thousand. This indicates the qualitative growth of the business, its transition to a new level of maturity and scale. For such companies, we are already working on special measures to support SMEs+ in order to ensure their stable development and further integration into a higher—level economy," he said.

In addition, the Ministry of Energy notes a positive trend in the growth of the number of medium-sized enterprises, explained Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Tatyana Ilyushnikova.

"Currently, more than 22,000 medium—sized companies have been registered, their number has increased by 6% over the year, and by 19% compared to 2023," she commented.

Monthly updates of the SME registry usually show an increase in the number of enterprises. But during the annual update, which takes place on July 10, the opposite is observed. This is primarily due to the administrative features of maintaining the registry and does not reflect the real state of the SME sector. The update is based on reports submitted by entrepreneurs at the beginning of the year for the previous period. Companies and individual entrepreneurs that no longer meet the criteria of SMEs or have not provided the necessary reporting within the prescribed period are excluded from the register.

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On June 18, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak pointed out at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2025) that the SME sector was showing the best adaptation to new challenges and uncertainties, and its share in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 21.7%.