Growth of Unorganised Agro-based Industries in Punjab

Abstract

To relieve the employment pressure from agriculture, the growth of the industrial sector is required and the unorganised sector plays an important role in this context as jobs in the organized sector are shrinking. Within the unorganised sector, it is the manufacturing sector which provides employment opportunities to a large less-skilled section of the labour force and requires less capital and within the manufacturing sector, agro-based industries are major employment providers. Therefore it is important to study the growth of such industries in a state like Punjab where agriculture continues to be a major contributor to the economy. An attempt was made to study the growth pattern of agro-based industries in the unorganised sector of Punjab because agro-based industries accelerate agricultural development by creating backward and forward linkages. For the purpose of study unit level data from various rounds of NSSO was used. It was observed that four agro-based industries namely manufacture of food and beverages, manufacture of textile, manufacture of wearing apparel, manufacture of wood and products of wood were dominating the unorganised manufacturing sector of Punjab economy both in terms of the number of industries and employment. Manufacture of wearing apparel has emerged as a major industry and replaced textile industry in terms of both numbers of units and employment. It was also observed that share of agro-based industries in unorganised manufacturing sector of Punjab was declining and the declining number of agro-based enterprises and employment is a major cause of concern particularly in state like Punjab which is trying to find new employment and income generation opportunities outside agriculture after the growth of agriculture in the states nearly stagnated.