'Economic Census 2005' has many surprises

New Delhi, June 12: The results of the 'Economic Census 2005' released here today have many surprises -- 61.3 per cent of the enterprises are in rural areas and they are also growing at a faster rate than urban India as well as the fact that the top three states among the best five where enterprises are growing most rapidly are the economically backward states of North East.

Another surprise is that the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir leads by way of growth in employment in industrial units.

But on expected lines is the finding that Tamil Nadu (10.56 per cent of the total enterprises) followed by Maharashtra (10.93 per cent) head the list in terms of the number of enterprises. The number of such units in Tamil Nadu are 44,469,99 and in Maharashtra are 43,74,767.

West Bengal follows with the number of units being 42,85,688 (10.17 per cent), followed by Andhra Pradesh 40,23,411 (9,55 per cent); and Uttar Pradesh has 40,159,26 (9.53 per cent).

The top five states in terms of growth of enterprises are as follows -- Mizoram 9.6 per cent; Kerala 8.93 per cent, Tripura 8.79 per cent; Tamil Nadu 8.49 per cent and Assam 6.57 per cent.

A safe conclusion to draw from this is that the three of the seven sister states of the North East may be industrialising fast.

The report of the survey were released at the SCOPE Auditorium by Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation G K Vasan, who said the message that emanates from the data is that economic reforms were providing better economic, industrial and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Others who were on the dias included Secretary Statistics and Programme Implementation R C Panda and Director General CSO.

On the occasion, a large number of statisticians and those involved in policy formulation were also present.

The Census brings out that out of the total enterprises 2.6 crore units (61 per cent) are located in rural areas and the remaining 1.6 crore (39 per cent)0 in urban areas. While the growth rate of these enterprises is 5.53 per cent in rural areas, the comparative figure for urban areas is 3.71 per cent.

The survey brings out that enterprises have grown at the rate of 4.8 per cent per year during 1988-2005 against 2.36 per cent recorded during the previous Economic Census.

On the other hand, employment has grown at the rate of 2.5 per cent per annum during the past seven years as compared to 1.7 per cent during the last Census period.

Analysts say this could be interpreted as an indictment of reforms where the growth of enterprises is far in excess of the growth of employment in them, especially as a majority of them are tiny and small units. It also could be that the capital intensity of the units is on the increase. If this trend widens over the year this would widen the gulf between the rich and the poor, they warned.

The final results of the Fifth Economic Census 2005 would be made available in December this year and Census involved a countrywide survey of all economic activities, excluding those engaged in crop production and plantations.

The last survey was conducted in 1998. The first three were carried out during 1977, 1980 and 1990. With each survey the scope of the activities covered expanded.

The gigantic exercise of conducting the survey in 2005 enumerated 4.2 crore enterprises throughout the length and breadth of the country.

The top three Union Teritories in terms of the number of enterprises are -- Delhi 75,3795 (1.79 per cent); Chandigarh 65,906 (0.16 per cent); and Pondicherry 49,915 (0.12 per cent). The top three Union Teritories in terms of employment are -- Delhi 40,80,033 (4.12 per cent); Chandigarh -- 25,152 (0.25 per cent) and Pondicherry 1,932,86 (0.20 per cent).

The Census revealed that the number of enterprises employing ten workers or more is 5.8 lakh.

Hired labour is about 52 per cent of the total workforce.

Nevertheless, the survey brings out that women have not been equal beneficaries of the development process, with just 19 per cent of the total workforce being from the fairer sex.

But the growth in enterprises does not follow the same pattern as the number of units in the Union Territories.

Dadar and Nagar Haveli had the fastest growth rate in this regard clocking a growth rate of 12.31 per cent; followed by Daman and Diu with a figure of 7.85 per cent and Chandigarh with a growth rate of 7.46 per cent.

The following is the record of the Union Territories in terms of employment -- Daman and Diu -- 11.46 per cent; Dadar and Nagar Haveli -- 10.33 per cent and Delhi -- 2.2 per cent.

While the earlier surveys could only capture the impact of economic reforms partially, as the process of reforms was in its initial stages at that point of time, the Fifth survey brings out more vividly the structural and compositional changes in the economy.

UNI