Deploying Technology to Grow Micro-Enterprises in India: Evidence From Urban Gujarat
This report delves into the use of technology amongst micro-entrepreneurs in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and explores its potential to transform them into larger enterprises. It emphasises the challenges faced by micro-enterprises and offers policy recommendations for fostering employment opportunities.
This report, based on primary data collected from micro-entrepreneurs in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s largest city, delves into the role of technology within the micro-enterprise landscape.
The report examines three key aspects: (i) the extent to which informal micro-enterprises make use of technology, (ii) the policy framework governing their access to technology, and (iii) the broader potential for technology to catalyse the expansion of micro-enterprises into small and medium-sized enterprises, consequently generating employment opportunities.
The study looks at micro-enterprises in two distinct informal settlements, Saraspur and Sarkhej, and includes data from a variety of entrepreneurs engaged in businesses like apparel, furniture, provision stores, tailoring, and beauty parlours. The analysis reveals that micro-enterprise owners possess a basic familiarity with technology but face impediments, such as limited access, exposure, or information, that hinder their ability to fully harness its benefits and upgrades, thus constraining them from embracing advanced technologies.
The report commences with an overview of urban informality, micro-entrepreneurship, technology utilisation, and relevant Indian policies. Subsequently, it presents findings from the study of 327 micro-enterprises in Ahmedabad, with a focus on technology access, adoption, and its perceived impact on business. Finally, the authors offer policy recommendations directed at Indian policymakers, emphasising the role of technology as a catalyst for fostering micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), particularly those owned by women, to create more and better employment opportunities.
This report was featured as a chapter in “Transformations in Technology, Transformations in Work”- a joint report co-authored by the global partners of JustJobs Network.
You may also be interested in
Water and Livelihoods in Meghalaya
This report, part of Jal Kaushal, a research project undertaken in partnership with Arghyam, explores the jobs-tasks-skills nexus of water management in rural Meghalaya. Building on the understanding that community involvement is critical for water management, this report seeks to illuminate the nature of this involvement and the barriers that need to be overcome to ensure sustained water management and achieve water security.
Water and Livelihoods in Karnataka
This report, part of Jal Kaushal, a research project undertaken in partnership with Arghyam, explores the jobs-tasks-skills nexus of water management in rural Karnataka. Building on the understanding that community involvement is critical for water management, this report seeks to illuminate the nature of this involvement and the barriers that need to be overcome to ensure sustained water management and achieve water security.
Water and Livelihoods in Bihar
This report, part of Jal Kaushal, a research project undertaken in partnership with Arghyam, explores the jobs-tasks-skills nexus of water management in rural Bihar. Building on the understanding that community involvement is critical for water management, this report seeks to illuminate the nature of this involvement and the barriers that need to be overcome to ensure sustained water management and achieve water security.
Water and Livelihoods in Odisha
This report, part of Jal Kaushal, a research project undertaken in partnership with Arghyam, explores the jobs-tasks-skills nexus of water management in rural Odisha. Building on the understanding that community involvement is critical for water management, this report seeks to illuminate the nature of this involvement and the barriers that need to be overcome to ensure sustained water management and achieve water security.
Water and Livelihoods in Maharashtra
This report, part of Jal Kaushal, a research project undertaken in partnership with Arghyam, explores the jobs-tasks-skills nexus of water management in rural Maharashtra. Building on the understanding that community involvement is critical for water management, this report seeks to illuminate the nature of this involvement and the barriers that need to be overcome to ensure sustained water management and achieve water security.
Empowerment or Exploitation: Global Perspectives on Women’s Work in the Platform Economy
This signature volume of essays, part of a regular series curated and edited by the JustJobs Network, seeks to provide varying perspectives on the opportunities and challenges that technology, particularly digital platforms, pose for women’s work and delves into the impact of the platform economy on women's experiences in work.
Digitalisation and the Indian Labour Market – Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities
This report tackles the crucial issue of how digital trends in India are unfolding and how they might impact the country’s world of work. It highlights the opportunities and challenges of these developments and the areas where policy intervention is needed to harness the potential of technology to improve labour market outcomes.
Reimagining Employability for the 21st-century: 10 Million Apprentices in 10 Years
This report offers a nuanced understanding of how Apprenticeships can improve employability outcomes for India’s labour market at an uncertain time when forces ranging from technology to pandemics keep changing the rules of the game.
Pathways to Work: Mapping Education, Skills and Employability to Labour Market Demand
This report analyses India’s skills training ecosystem, delineating the challenges and the urgent need for deep reform. It provides recommendations for systemic change in the education-skill ecosystem that will help create a better, more inclusive, and equitable world for work for India’s youth.
Technology, Equality and the Future of Work in South and South East Asia
This paper seeks to take stock of the main dimensions shaping the future of work in the South and South East Asia and present key messages and policy recommendations to create an innovative and inclusive future of work.
The World in 2030: Looking Back Ten Years from Now
This book provides well-founded insights and guidance to (self-)manage work in a globalized and digitalized knowledge economy with a perspective of the year 2030. International researchers and practitioners draw a picture of how, when, and where we will work most probably in 10 years.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Implications for Asian Development Cooperation
In her chapter on the potential of ASEAN's digital transformation, JJN President and Executive Director Sabina Dewan explores employment impacts of the region's major digital trends and how regional cooperation is critical to leverage economic advantages.