West Bengal has emerged as the leading state for generating employment in the small and medium enterprises sector, with over 43,000 jobs during April 2011 and February 15, 2012, says an Assocham study.
The state assisted about 5,290 SME units utilising about Rs 52.49 crore (Rs 524.9 million) of the margin money subsidy for facilitating growth in the sector, the study said.
"Over 325,000 jobs were generated in the SME sector by providing assistance to a total of 35,607 SME units across India utilising margin money subsidy worth about Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) during the 11 months period between April 2011 and February 15, 2012," D S Rawat, national secretary general of Assocham said while releasing the findings.
Andhra Pradesh emerged as the second leading state by generating about 33,115 jobs and assisting about 1,459 SME units, utilising about Rs 48.9 crore (Rs 489 million) of the margin money subsidy, it said.
With over 30,000 jobs generated during the 11 months period, Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the third leading state to facilitate growth in the SMEs sector, says study.
Utilising the margin money subsidy worth over Rs 107 crore (Rs 1.07 billion), the state assisted about 3,205 SME units across the state during the aforesaid period.
Tamil
"The SME sector accounts for about 45 per cent of India's manufacturing output and 40 per cent of the total exports of the country.
"Besides, the sector is estimated to employ about 59 million persons in over 26 million units which produce over 6,000 products ranging from traditional to high-techs items," Rawat said.
Tamil Nadu emerged as the fourth leading state by creating about 27,138 jobs and assisted about 1,827 SME units utilising margin money subsidy of over Rs 44.6 crore during the period.
Odisha ranked fifth with about 21,010 employment opportunities were created in the SME sector as 2,101 SMEs were assisted by the state utilising the margin money subsidy worth over Rs 39 crore (Rs 390 million).
Assam assisted about 2,234 SME units and created about 17,944 jobs utilising about Rs 24 crore (Rs 240 million) of margin money subsidy. About 15,442 jobs were created in SME sector by providing assistance to about 1,347 units in Karnataka utilising the margin money subsidy worth over Rs 27 crore (Rs 270 million).
About 15,423 jobs were created in the SME industry of Bihar as the state government assisted about 2,442 units utilising over Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) of margin money subsidy.
