Challenges to sustainable growth of the micro-scale kuhila craft industry of India

Prarthana Majumdar*, S Banerjee

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Micro and Small Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in Handicrafts form an important part of the Indian economy. Yet, in the post liberalization era since 1991, MSMEs have fallen considerably behind the national growth rate. Besides the economic threats from opening up the economy to competing global MNCs, and the government’s withdrawal of subsidies, several socio-cultural factors have also stymied the growth of these enterprises. Notable among them are the gradual westernization of culture, rural education, urban immigration and the changing gender and generational relations in artisan families. This paper focuses on one such micro scale handicraft industry in rural North East India (Assam), namely, the Kuhila craft industry and studies the challenges that this industry is facing in economic, social and cultural fronts. It also investigates the effects of environmental changes and its ability to pose as a potential threat to this industry in future.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationResearch into Design for Communities
Subtitle of host publicationProceedings of ICoRD 2017
EditorsA. Chakrabarti, D. Chakrabarti
Place of PublicationSingapore
PublisherSpringer
Pages267-276
Number of pages10
Volume2
ISBN (Electronic)978-981-10-3521-0
ISBN (Print)978-981-10-3520-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Event6th International Conference on Research into Design, ICoRD 2017 - Guwahati, India
Duration: 9 Jan 201711 Jan 2017

Publication series

NameSmart Innovation, Systems and Technologies
PublisherSpringer
Volume66
ISSN (Print)2190-3018
ISSN (Electronic)2190-3026

Conference

Conference6th International Conference on Research into Design, ICoRD 2017
Country/TerritoryIndia
City Guwahati
Period9/01/1711/01/17

Keywords

  • Handicraft
  • Kuhila
  • Micro and small scale enterprises
  • Sustainability

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