ROLE OF MICRO ENTERPRISE IN LIVELIHOOD PROMOTION: A PERSPECTIVE STUDY IN INDIA

Entrepreneurial development and management has come to be recognized as the key to rapid and sustainable economic development as well as the welfare and progress of the mankind. Traditionally, the informal sector units including micro and small enterprises(MSEs) attract a very small portion of the banks’ portfolio. Banks along with other institutions, by and large, responsible for providing finance are more accustomed to dealing with more confident, literate borrowers of urban areas. Given this scenario, micro finance(MF) as a means of alleviating poverty has gained momentum in the last couple of decades across India vis-à-vis Odisha, a province fraught with the twin problems of poverty and unemployment. At the same time, MSEs contribute significantly to economic growth, social stability and equity. Assuming lot of significance for a Mao-infested Province like Odisha, these informal sector units operate under the conditions of extreme resource crunch. Besides, their qualitative and quantitative limitations due to outdated technologies result in a low level of productivity and extremely high costMicro and Small Enterprise (MSE), Self Help Group (SHG), Sustainable Livelihood (SL), Joint Liability Group (JLG)