India’s business leaders feel revival of MSME sector could boost rural jobs: Report

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More than half of Indian business leaders believe that the way to ramp up rural employment is by reinvigorating the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector, which has been heavily impacted by the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a recent survey. The survey, conducted by a staffing solutions company Genius Consultants, found that over 85% respondents felt that the manufacturing sector, which has witnessed a near constant slump, has been a major contributor to rising joblessness in the country.

MSME sector suffered the most

According to the report titled the ‘Sudden Rise of Rural Unemployment’, 57% of the companies said that India’s economy was devastated by the Covid-19 virus and nearly all sectors, industries were impacted, but perhaps the MSME sector suffered the most.

The report, based on a survey, stated that most of the respondents felt that the cause of high joblessness was propelled by the missing employment opportunities in the sectors heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a report by PTI, the survey covered nearly 1100 business leaders between August 1 and September 10.

Covid-19 restrictions deepened problem

The respondents included business leaders from sectors such as construction and engineering, banking and finance, education, teaching, training, IT, ITeS, business processing and outsourcing, manufacturing, FMCG, hospitality and logistics among others.

According to the report, 57% respondents strongly agreed with the observation that revival of the MSME sector would help in easing the problem of unemployment, specifically in rural areas. Nearly 14.3% respondents said that they felt the reason behind rising rural unemployment was the restrictions imposed by the state governments after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic

According to the recent CMIE data released in the first week of September, around 15 lakh people lost jobs in India in August in both formal and informal sectors. The job losses were reported from both urban and rural areas. Job losses in rural areas in August stood at 13 lakh.