Apparel April 2019 Apparel April 2019 issue | Page 40

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS
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SKILLING IT RIGHT!
In the February 2019 issue of Apparel, we explored the steps taken by the
Government to ease the liquidity crisis in the MSME sector. In part 2-B of the
series on the MSME segment, Pankaja Balaji explores skill-based solutions for
issues facing the sector.
Indian entrepreneurship is booming. In fact,
India ranks second only to China in terms of its
MSME base, with nearly 64 million registered
enterprises. As such, the role of Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises is of strategic importance
to the economic future of the country. Currently,
the MSME sector is responsible for 45 per cent
of manufacturing output, 40 per cent of total
exports, 37 per cent of national GDP, and is
an employer to nearly 80 million people across
the nation. But perhaps most importantly, in
this globalised era, MSMEs are responsible
for consolidating the fragmentation within the
economy by rationalising the informal sectors.
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April 2019
Unfortunately, despite its critical importance,
the past few years have demonstrated that
this sector is at risk due to a woeful lack of
skilled workforce.
SKILL NEEDS FOR APPAREL AND
TEXTILE MSMES
It’s self-evident that a skilled workforce is an
essential component of any Micro, Small or
Medium Enterprise, and estimates from the
Ministry of MSME state that the sector will need
nearly 150 million skilled workers in the next three
years. As a result, skill development is a critical
investment and priority area. And while these