Micro and Small Enterprises in India: The Era of Reforms

This book presents a set of analytical and deeply policy-oriented articles on the dynamics of growth and performance of micro and small enterprises in India during the period of reforms. It provides fairly detailed analyses of policy changes for the micro and small enterprises secotr as well as empirical analyses of performance and efficiency of the unorganised manufacturing sector. it examines a range of emerging and persistent complex issues facing this crucial sector including credit, exports, trade regulations, capacity building, subcontracting, clustering, entrepreneurship and rural industrialisation.

Focusing on the constraints facing this sector even during the economic reforms, most of the articles analyse how and why special attention, particularly by the state, needs to be paid towards enhancing firm competitiveness. Broad-basing the benefits of policy interventions to the overwhelmingly present yet left out micro enterprises, including rural areas, forms an important concern. This volume attempts to critically examine critical areas of intervention that could open up possibilities of developing a strong micro and small enterprises sector in India.

Keshab Das is Professor at the Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad. His recent publications include The Growth and Transformation of Small Firms in India (co-authored, 2001); Indian Industrial Clusters (edited, 2005); and Policy and Status Paper on Cluster Development in India (co-authored, 2007). His research interests lie in issues concerning regional development, industrialization, small-firm development, industrial clusters, the informal sector, and labour and infrastructure in both rural and urban areas. He has been a recipient of the prestigious VKRV Roo Prize in Social Sciences (Economics) for the year 2004.