Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and their Impacts on Economy and Employment : Post-covid analysis in Haryana

Abstract

The study intends to understand the state of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Haryana , India . MSMEs is considered to be one of the backbone sector in India’s economic growth and development . It contributes around 30% of India’s GDP and 50% of nation’s exports . This sector provides livelihood to nearly 110 million workers in the workforce nevertheless this sector are unorganised and more than 90% of the units are micro . In India , performances and contributions of MSMEs across states are highly uneven while state of UP and West Bengal are one of the major performer in terms of MSMEs , Haryana is one of the worst performer states both in terms of numbers and their contributions to state GSDP .This study is based on secondary and primary data . Secondary sources are Census India (2011) , NSS 73rd round survey of MSMEs (2015-16) and Udyam portal registrations . A field work was conducted in the Rohtak district of Haryana considering each of the organised and unorganised units from Micro , Small and Medium Enterprises to understand the nature of enterprises , their functionings, challenges and employment that they provide to the labourers . One of the main objectives of the study is to understand the catastrophe of COVID-19 and its aftermath on MSMEs and to explore various coping mechanism of this sector to absorb the COVID-19 induced shock . The study finds , not surprisingly , micro units among MSMEs are the worst hit by the pandemic due to entire fragmented nature of the micro units owing to information asymmetry , MSMEs are unable to access to various government policies leading them extremely precariat . Mainstreaming of MSMEs is essential for this sector to thrive as there is a strong backward and forward linkages of MSMEs with large manufacturing organised sector . There is a structural linkage between MSMEs and large formal sector units . Government needs to intervene more in terms of recognising this sector as formal units and provide various economic incentives for sustainable growth of MSMEs within economic development framework