Role of Small-Scale Industries in District Level Development : A Study of Varanasi

In a developing country like India, the development of Small-Scale Industries (SSIs) and their close relationship with the large industrial units are considered very much essential in any scheme of industrialization. In fact, a modern manufacturing unit is not complete and not as efficient as it should be unless it has both large and small units. The SSIs in India serve the society by providing immediate large-scale employment opportunities, ensuring equitable distribution of national income by facilitating effective mobilization of resources, capital and skills which might otherwise remain unutilized, stimulating the growth of industrial entrepreneurship and promoting the more diffused pattern of ownership and location. Owing to their valuable benefits, the people throughout the country with varying socioeconomic backgrounds are attracted towards these industries. Thus, this paper attempts to provide a glimpse of the SSIs in India, in terms of production, employment and export contributions; historical perspective of SSIs and their conceptual framework, role and achievements; and SSIs under Five-Year Plans. The state industrial policies and SSIs, and the institutional set-up for the development and diversification of SSIs are also the subject matter of this paper. In addition, a brief account of the SSIs in Uttar Pradesh in general and SSIs in Varanasi in particular, have been presented