Assistance or Subjugation: Impact of Small Industries in Pakistan

The small industries are an integral part of economic lifeline around the world and especially of developing countries. They are a major source of ideas and employment, sustaining and stimulating the growth of industrial sector. Though these small enterprises are full of enthusiasm but also fail owing to their inexperience, lack of finances and management skills. The multinationals of the world are endeavoring to make their ingresses all over the world. Apprehension is that these small industries may not be overshadowed under the multinationals. Despite the efforts of multinationals to capture the world industry, the importance of small industries cannot be ignored. They can benefit by the disciplined approach to direct settings, which harnesses their character sense of enterprise, their capabilities and potentialities to their provision of goods and services. The study provides a brief picture about the growth of small industries in Pakistan and also reflects the attitude of government of Pakistan about this sector. A comparison of Small Industries of Pakistan & rest of the world has been presented. The study shows that various countries of the world have planned to pay proper attention on the development of small industries considering them vital for the growth of their economy and a good source of employment generation. The small industries grew at their own in the country without government planning and support. Majority of the industries are family owned in which a few persons have been employed. The agro based small industries are setup in the rural areas and remaining are in the urban areas. These small industries cover most of the industrial field out of those the prominent are light engineering, textile, garments, knitting, surgical, sports goods, hosiery, embroidery, leather goods, poultry, handicrafts, agriculture, woodwork, nursery, fisheries, lodging industries etc. The focus needs to be on setting up export oriented and value added small industries so that foreign exchange may be earned through these industries. The small industries can be utilized for producing the raw material for the large-scale industries as well as vise versa to utilize the waste of large industries. A comprehensive planning is required to channelize small industries to produce raw material for large industries and provide financial incentive to establish small industries in rural areas of Pakistan.