The main objective of this study is to make an indepth analysis of the development of Small Scale Industrial (SSI) sector in the rural areas of the states of Northeastern Region (NER) of India. The SSI sector is studied in terms of changes in the number of enterprises and employees, working status classification, firm size and types of organization in the region. It focuses specifically on the role and profile of entrepreneurs. The SSIs are broadly classified into following categories: manufacturing, assembling, processing; services; and repairing and maintenance. It is found that the manufacturing, assembling and processing activity is the dominant group among the various SSIs activities in the Northeastern (NE) states in rural and urban areas. The next category of activities is the services group followed by repairing and maintenance. In most of the NE states, the SSIs are growing significantly in rural areas. In some states, concentration and growth of SSI activities is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Another important feature is the rising number of women and tribal entrepreneurs in the region. If this trend continues, then it will play an important role in rural development and transforming the economies of this region in future.
The
development of Small Scale Industrial (SSI) sector has been
viewed as a powerful instrument for achieving the twin goals
of `accelerated industrial growth' and `creating `productive
employment opportunities' in an economy. In fact, the SSIs
have contributed significantly towards the national economies
all over the world and are considered to be the engine of
growth in most of the developed and developing countries.
They also play an important role as producers of consumer
goods and absorbers of surplus labor, thereby addressing
the problems of poverty and unemployment to some extent.
Small scale industries also have a merit of being agents
that help in mitigating regional imbalance, acting as a
nursery for entrepreneurship and facilitating mobilization
of local resources and skills, which might have otherwise
remained unutilized. In recent years, the SSI sector has
emerged as a dynamic and vibrant sector of the Indian economy,
displaying its phenomenal growth in the varied fields of
production, employment, and dispersed development in general
and exports in particular.
There
had been several attempts to analyze the development and
role of SSIs in India's economy at national as well as regional
level. Sandesara (1988) reviewed the Indian experience of
promoting small scale industry over the last four decades
based on official reports and academic studies on the subject.
He traces growth patterns of SSIs from the perspective of
employment generation. According to Nath (1998), persistent
efforts have been made to promote SSIs in India as it is
a source of large scale employment generation and equitable
distribution of income.
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