Govt policies must nurture 'infant' firms to create jobs: Economic Survey

Companies that have the potential to grow and create employment need nurturing, says Economic Survey.

The Economic Survey has pitched for a ‘sunset’ clause on policy incentives given to small firms, asking government to handhold ‘infant’ or new firms rather than ‘dwarfs’—a term used by Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian to describe businesses that never grow beyond their small size.

“Job creation in India suffers from policies that foster dwarfs, i.e. small firms that never grow, instead of infant firms that have the potential to grow and become giants rapidly,” the survey said, categorising small firms as those employing less than 100 workers. Dwarfs were defined as small firms in operations since more than 10 years