Institutional Shackles to Entrepreneurial Development Among the Ethnic Groups in North East India : A Study on Entrepreneurial Environment in Poumai Naga Ethnic Group

The continuing underdevelopment of the Ethnic Groups in North East India in the face of fast growing Indian economy needs a critical study on various aspects of the Ethnic economic behavior in relation to socio-cultural environment, which not only envelops them but also determines their economic decision choice. The question of why the Ethnic Groups of North East India continue to remain underdeveloped has been at the center of recent debates but they are mostly centered around insurgency, government’s failures, physical and monetary factors, and other economic factors. Entrepreneurship is something new or alien to these ethnic groups and its issues are hardly studied at ethnic level, though entrepreneur is widely agreed as the prime driver of economic progress and development. The study attempts to identify and examine those social-cultural and attitudinal elements of the Poumai Naga Ethnic Group which inhibit them from seizing opportunities available to them and successfully go through various self-employment activities or manage the ongoing small retail businesses. The over all institutional environment indicates the following characteristic features; (1) persistent, complacent and contended economic behavior, (2) lack of basic business skills, (3) indifferent social attitude towards entrepreneurs and social stigmatization of unsuccessful businessmen, (4) lack of social support to and encouragement for entrepreneurship, (5) very high cost village financing and (6) lack of successful entrepreneurial role model in village