Dependence of the Small Scale Manufacturing Enterprises on the Organized Sector-Some Evidences

One of the issues which is often discussed among researchers and policy makers in connection with the functioning and viability of small scale enterprises in India relates to the nature and extent of the dependence of the small enterprises on the large units or the organized sector. Such dependence has often been described in terms of the operation of small enterprises as 'ancillary' to the large enterprises. Unfortunately, however, since in India there is no system of regularly collecting information about the small-scale enterprises, one has to rely on isolated and piece meal evidences while talking about the characteristics of such enterprises, in particular, about their dependence on the large-scale sector. In this paper we present some results, obtained through a sample survey conducted sometime back, on this particular aspect of the small-scale enterprises.