The competitiveness of private enterprises in Shanghai is growing rapidly, according to a recent survey by the Municipal Labor and Social Security Bureau.

The bureau surveyed 4,189 enterprises involved in 15 sectors including manufacturing, building industry, real estate and finance.

The survey found that among Shanghai's private enterprises, every 100 million yuan (about 12 million US dollars) of registered capital contribute to about 6 million yuan (about 725,500 US dollars) in tax, much higher than that of state-owned or foreign-funded enterprises.

Experts say the survey indicates that private enterprises in Shanghai, which are more and more standardized, have shown a rising competitiveness.

By the end of April this year, Shanghai had 325,000 private enterprises which employed a total of 3.65 million people. Over the past several years, the number of private enterprises has kept an annual growth rate of 27.2 percent.

In 2003, Shanghai's private enterprises paid 24.9 billion yuan (about 3 billion US dollars) worth of taxes, up 49.5 percent year-on-year.