The survey indicates optimism on higher growth expectations on employment for the next three years

A job survey of firms in the MSME sector, the largest ever in recent times, conducted by CII shows, a Net Jobs Creation growth of 13.9 per cent over the last 4 years. The survey spanning over 105,347 firms primarily in the MSMEs sector, was undertaken in more than 350 industrial centres spread across 28 States. The growth in jobs in this space was led by Maharashtra, Gujarat and Telangana.

"The survey establishes a growth of 3.3 per cent (compounded growth rate) per annum. When mapped to the macro level data sourced from Labour Bureau, this works out to an estimated additional job creation to the tune of 13.5 to 14.9 million per annum", said Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, President, CII. The total workforce is to the tune of about 450 million as of 2017-18 (projected) using the labour bureau data.

"The survey indicates that the top job generating sectors were Hospitality & Tourism followed by Textiles & Apparel and Metal Products, during the past four years. Machinery Parts and Transport & Logistics were the next significant job creators. The survey also reveals that the Micro enterprises were the largest job creators in the past four years and will continue to be so in the next three years," said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.

The survey indicates optimism on higher growth expectations on employment for the next three years, which emanates from the fact that the government initiatives like the 2 per cent interest rate subvention given to all MSMEs and Trade Receivable e-Discounting System (TReDS) implemented recently would drive future growth leading to more employment.  "However, the CII survey highlights the need for greater hand-holding of the MSMEs who are still to take full advantage of these Government initiatives," said Banerjee.

Indicating a higher availability of skilled manpower, the survey shows that a significant majority of the respondents were able to fill vacancies in under a month. "The survey has indeed thrown up the most promising outcomes. There is a very healthy growth in employment among the MSME segment of industry and with the kind of disruptions and innovations that are likely to sweep through industry in terms of new technologies and practices, our skills development front is also undergoing rapid changes," said the CII President.

The survey undertaken by CII is the largest ever MSME specific survey covering 105,347 MSMEs located in about 350 industrial centres spread across 28 states of India. The survey enumerated jobs creation, ease of filling up vacancies, impact of Government initiatives on jobs creation by the MSMEs.

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