Small enterprise on the rise
Let's take the quiet revolution forward
A survey on the country's micro-type, small and medium enterprises has revealed their coming of age and playing a significant role in the uplift of the national economy. Slowly but steadily their contribution to the Gross Domestic Product has risen to 25 per cent outstripping the contribution of the larger private and public sector industries. That 40 per cent of the population aged 15 years and above are employed in 60 lakh such enterprises speaks of a silent industrialisation process that hardly ever hogs news headlines. This is an achievement by entrepreneurs about whom we either know very little or who very rarely get invited to formal functions to be heard as mentioned by the commerce minister. Credit goes to the Department for International Development, USAID, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) for sponsoring the survey that unveiled such a huge but so far largely obscured success story. Since we are labour-intensive, there can be no question about the suitability of micro, small and medium units which require modest investment to be set up. They represent a major avenue for private sector association and participation from the grassroots upwards. The government must play an enabling and facilitating role here. According to the survey, the enterprises received credit in an equal proportion at 35 per cent from both informal and formal sources. A huge chunk came from non-government organisations. There is scope for expanded lending to the small enterprises sector, especially from the NCBs and specialised banks. There is room for improving women's representation in the area, both in terms of entrepreneurship and employment. The women entrepreneurs and job-seekers must be given a much greater access to the opportunities on offer for setting up micro, small and medium industries. They should be given special incentives as the most vulnerable segment of the population to come right up.
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