Publication: Gender Issues in the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Sector in India
Loading...
Date
2014-08
ISSN
Published
2014-08
Editor(s)
Abstract
Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are an important instrument of growth for India’s economy. The contribution of the MSME sector to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to be around 8 to 9 percent in 2012 after agriculture; MSMEs have emerged as the second largest source of employment in India. For growth to be inclusive and equitable, it is critical to understand how to enhance the role of women in the economy and in particular in the MSME sector. In order to fill the gap, the World Bank has commissioned International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW), Asia Regional Office, New Delhi to conduct a short, field based assessment of gender issues in MSMEs in India. The study involved field-based assessment of gender related issues in select MSME clusters to identify challenges and opportunities for inclusion of women in higher numbers and at higher levels of growth in the MSME sector. The study findings will ultimately be operationalized into a Bank-supported MSME project in India and help inform Government of India policy on more inclusive growth of the MSME sector, especially towards strengthening gender equality and economic empowerment of women in the sector.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“International Center for Research on Women. 2014. Gender Issues in the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Sector in India. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28531 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Finance in India(International Finance Corporation, New Delhi, 2012-11)This study aims to provide an assessment of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector (MSME) finance in India. The chapters in the study highlight the key characteristics of the MSME sector, and assess the demand for, and the flow of finance into the sector. The study also evaluates the consequent gap in the financing needs of MSMEs. Finally, it explores potential interventions to address the lack of access to formal finance for MSMEs. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector is crucial to India’s economy. There are 29.8 million enterprises in various industries, employing 69 million people. The sector includes 2.2 million women-led enterprises (~7.4 percent) and ~15.4 million rural enterprises (51.8 percent). In all, the MSME sector accounts for 45 percent of Indian industrial output and 40 percent of exports. Although 94 percent of MSMEs are unregistered, the contribution of the sector to India’s GDP has been growing consistently at 11.5 percent a year, which is higher than the overall GDP growth of 8 percent. Poor infrastructure and inadequate market linkages are key factors that have constrained growth of the sector. The lack of adequate and timely access to finance has been the biggest challenge. The financing needs of the sector depend on the size of operation, industry, customer segment, and stage of development. Financial institutions have limited their exposure to the sector due to a higher risk perception and limited access of MSMEs to immovable collateral.Publication Developing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Jordan : The Route to Shared Prosperity(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-03)The Arab uprisings and the global financial and economic slowdown have negatively impacted the Jordanian economy and highlighted demands for a more level economic playing field and equity in access to economic and social opportunities. Already challenged in providing jobs to the more than 60,000 youth who enter the labor market annually, Jordan has seen unemployment rising. Youth and women were most affected, with unemployment, reaching 22.8 percent and 22.3 percent, respectively. Moreover, regional disparities continue to pose additional challenges. Limited private sector jobs are available in the outlying governorates, where employment relies largely on the civil service and other public sector jobs. At the same time, the private sector is hampered by difficulties in the business environment and inadequate access to finance. Job creation and economic inclusion are key priorities for Jordan today these goals will be advanced by improving access to finance, enhancing competitiveness, and fostering sustainable, private sector-led growth.Publication Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Finance(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2017)Lending to women-owned micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as a distinct segment is still unexplored when compared to lending to MSMEs in India. Due to a lack of segmental focus and, perhaps, due to a higher perception of risk, formal financial institutions have made little effort to better understand this segment. There is a lack of awareness among bankers of the potential business opportunity presented by this segment. One reason for this is the lack of data that will help present a business case to target this emerging sector. In cases where formal institutions have created women-MSME targeted credit schemes, lack of awareness and limited outreach (especially in rural areas) has meant that the impact is limited. IFC’s work in this area aims to (a) build awareness about opportunities in access to finance for women-owned businesses; (b) demonstrate commercial viability of offering financial services to this sub-segment; and (c) strengthen capacity of the financial sector to offer targeted financial services to women entrepreneurs. As part of its intervention in this sector, IFC organized a roundtable with representatives from banks, non-banking financial institutions, and industry associations to understand perspectives and discuss financial access for women-owned businesses. The discussion began to build awareness of the opportunities in the women entrepreneurs’ segment for financial institutions, and best practices involved. This report aims to assess the gap in demand and supply of finance, highlight the opportunity in serving women entrepreneurs, and catalogue initiatives taken by financial institutions in access to finance for women-owned businesses in India. The report presents the findings of a scoping study based on secondary research and primary interviews, together with key themes of the roundtable discussion, and recommends potential interventions by financial institutions to address the lack of access to formal finance for women-owned businesses in India.Publication Closing the Credit Gap for Formal and Informal Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2013-08)Job creation and economic growth through private sector development have become primary areas of focus for policy makers around the world in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Recent evidence points to the importance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in providing employment across countries. In addition to employing the largest number of people in aggregate, SMEs generate the most new jobs. But SMEs also face many challenges in day-to-day operations and to grow. This note is a report back on the state of the credit gap for MSMEs with this new and updated data, while providing additional focus on the sizable informal enterprise sector in the developing world. In addition, this report examines various operational challenges that small and informal firms face, and some formalization obstacles they often cite as the primary reasons for not registering their business. A framework to differentiate the informal sector is offered, with the intention of segmenting the vast landscape of informal firms some of which exist today due to opportunistic behavior, while others are just trying to survive and to better design specific interventions depending on the stage of development and the willingness of the firm to register its business. The rest of this report is organized as follows. Section I focuses on the credit gap for formal MSMEs, and offers some innovative models and interventions that can be used to more fully meet the financial and non-financial needs of formal MSMEs. Section II focuses exclusively on informal enterprises, and goes beyond the access to finance paradigm, describing the operational challenges faced by informal firms, reviewing the experiments that have tried to induce higher rates of formalization, and looking at a series of private sector models that if combined, could more fully meet the needs of informal firms.Publication Gender, Entry Regulations, and Small Firm Informality : What Do the Micro Data Tell Us?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-09)Informality is pervasive in many developing countries, where the majority of businesses do not register. One view, linked strongly with Hernando de Soto and the International Finance Corporations (IFC's) doing business project, is that the informal sector consists of potential entrepreneurs who remain small as the administrative and financial costs of becoming formal prevent firms from formalizing, but that formalization is needed to obtain access to finance, and have the incentive to grow without fear of government inspectors. Moreover, it is often argued further that the burden of regulation is even larger for female business owners, because they have less time and money to overcome expensive and time-consuming barriers to registration. As a result, doing business 2008 claims that the benefits of business regulation reform are especially high for women, and shows that across countries there is a positive association between the percentage of entrepreneurs who are women and the ease of doing business. This note largely focuses on the implications for micro and very small enterprises in urban areas, which comprise most businesses in developing countries. Almost all rural firms are informal.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Global Economic Prospects, June 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-11)After several years of negative shocks, global growth is expected to hold steady in 2024 and then edge up in the next couple of years, in part aided by cautious monetary policy easing as inflation gradually declines. However, economic prospects are envisaged to remain tepid, especially in the most vulnerable countries. Risks to the outlook, while more balanced, are still tilted to the downside, including the possibility of escalating geopolitical tensions, further trade fragmentation, and higher-for-longer interest rates. Natural disasters related to climate change could also hinder activity. Subdued growth prospects across many emerging market and developing economies and continued risks underscore the need for decisive policy action at the global and national levels. Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies, on a semiannual basis (in January and June). Each edition includes analytical pieces on topical policy challenges faced by these economies.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.