The role of village and cottage industries in a developing country
like India cannot be over emphasized. Developing countries are
characterized as labor abundant and capital scarce. India is no
exception to this phenomenon and is undergoing an acute
unemployment syndrome. Large industries with their stress on latest
technical know-how requiring enormous capital investment cannot
absorb all the growing number of unemployed masses in the country.
On the other hand, village and cottage crafts which employ labor
intensive techniques of manufacture can provide immense
employment opportunities to the masses. With any given investment,
employment possibilities would be many times greater in rural
industries than those in large scale industrial sector. The rural
industries occupy a premiere position of eminence in the industrial
structure of the Indian economy. They provide employment
opportunities to a large section of working force and contribute
significantly towards the manufacture and export of goods. The rural
industrial sector stands next only to agriculture in terms of
employment; on value addition its share is about fifty percent of the
total value of goods produced in the manufacturing sector and in the
matter of exports, its share is more than one third of the total exports
made by the country.
