While the organised manufacturing sector faced several hiccups in the latter half of the nineties, there was a 34.5 per cent increase in the number of enterprises in the unorganised manufacturing sector between 1994-95 and 2000-01.
The 56th National Sample Survey showed the number of enterprises in the sector increased from 12.6 million in 1994-95 to 17 million in 2000-01.
The number of workers employed by this sector also went up 24 per cent from 29.9 million to 37.1 million during the same period.
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The gross value added per worker per year increased 73 per cent at Rs 16,233 in 2000-01 as against Rs 9,402 in 1994-95.
This sector contributed a gross value added of Rs 601.8 billion to the economy in 2000-01, as per the results of the survey.
The survey, conducted between July 2000 and June 2001, collected information on the characteristics of the enterprises, employment, value added and employment in the unorganised manufacturing sector, which accounts for about 40 per cent of the total manufacturing activity in the economy and for 8 per cent of the gross domestic product.
The survey covered a broad range of manufacturing activities, including food products and beverages, tobacco products, textiles, luggage, paper and paper products, chemicals and chemical products, basic metals, office, accounting and computing machinery, medical instruments, cotton ginning, cleaning and baling, publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media.
The survey results put the annual gross value added per worker at Rs 16,233, which translates into a gross value added of Rs 1,352.75 per month.
Since value added was defined as the sum of wages and returns to capital, this low figure indicated that the level of wages in this sector was very low, said experts.
However, it could also indicate gross underreporting by the unorganised sector, they added.
This sector is not required to maintain accounts in the prescribed format and the figures collected depend on responses to questionnaires.
Additionally, since this sector gets benefits on the basis of the number of workers employed, there could be some overreporting on this account, they said.
The gross value added per worker in 2000-01 is, however, much better than in 1994-95, when it was only Rs 9,402 per annum or Rs 783.5 per month.
Of the major states, Punjab has topped the list with the maximum gross value added per worker of Rs 29,928 per year. Gujarat is next with Rs 27,967 per worker per year, closely followed by Haryana at Rs 26,838 and Maharashtra at Rs 25,552.
At the bottom of the list are Orissa with an annual gross value added of only Rs 5,459 per worker, preceded by Chhatisgarh with Rs 9,048 and Jharkhand with Rs 10,383.