What is it about?
This paper analyses the performance of the rural unorganised manufacturing sector in Assam in the post-reforms period. Using the National Sample Survey Organisation’s ‘quinquennial’ rounds on unorganised manufacturing sector for the years 1994-95, 2000-01, 2005-06 and 2010-11, we have analysed the growth performance and structural changes in the rural unorganised manufacturing sector in Assam in terms of number of enterprises, employment and output. The analysis showed that in the post-reforms period there has been a deceleration in the growth of output in Assam’s rural unorganised manufacturing sector, while the growth of enterprises and employment has been negative. Considerable structural change has been occurring within the rural unorganised manufacturing sector over the years; the share of OAMEs – the dominant segment of the rural sector – has been falling, while that of the establishments has been increasing. The establishments segment has been growing at a faster rate than the OAMEs. Employment elasticity in the overall rural unorganised sector and the OAMEs is found out to be negative, whereas that in the establishments segment has been relatively high. Labour productivity in the rural unorganised sector has been lower than the urban counterpart, but growth in labour productivity is found to be higher in the rural unorganised sector than the urban unorganised sector.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The economic reforms started in India since 1991 has thrown up both opportunities and challenges for the small-scale enterprises. The liberalisation of industrial policies and reduction in the number of items reserved for the small-scale sector coupled with opening up of the economy to the global market has drastically changed the business environment in which the unorganised enterprises operate and exposed the unorganised enterprises to intensifying competition from large-scale industries. In this context, it is important to examine the performance of the rural unorganised manufacturing sector in a backward state like Assam in the post-reforms period.
Perspectives
Notwithstanding the crucial role played by the rural unorganised sector in the industrial economy of the state, the sector has not received due attention in the policy sphere and research community. While there have been very few studies on the unorganised manufacturing sector in Assam, and most of these studies have attempted to examine the issues such as growth, structure, employment, productivity, etc. for the overall unorganised manufacturing sector in the state, these issues have not been addressed in the context of the rural unorganised manufacturing sector. This paper tries to fill this visible gap in the literature by analysing the growth, structural change and factor productivity of the rural unorganised manufacturing sector in Assam.
Mr Dilip Saikia
Darrang College, Tezpur, Assam
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Rural Unorganised Manufacturing Sector in Assam in the Post-reforms Period, PRODUCTIVITY, December 2018, Printspublications Private Limited,
DOI: 10.32381/prod.2018.59.03.3.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
