Key Terms

The chapter's key terms, with brief explanations, are given below.

• Small scale industries — modern small industries defined by the Government of India on the basis of the investment in plant and machinery (and, for service units, investment in equipment), within the limits laid down under the MSMED Act, 2006.
• Cottage industries — traditional (rural) industries recognised not by an investment criterion but by features such as private organisation, family labour, simple equipment, small capital, simple products made in one's own premises and the use of indigenous technology.
• Micro business enterprises — the smallest category of enterprises under the MSMED Act, with the lowest investment in plant and machinery (manufacturing) or equipment (services).
• Export-oriented units — small units that produce mainly for export rather than for the domestic market.
• Rural industries — industries located in rural areas (including village and cottage industries) that provide non-agricultural livelihoods to rural people and help curb migration to the cities.
• Women enterprises — small scale enterprises that are owned and managed by women entrepreneurs.
• Ancillary (unit) — a small unit that supplies a substantial part of its output (historically taken as not less than 50 per cent) — in the form of components, parts, sub-assemblies, tooling or intermediate products — to one or more parent or large industrial undertakings.
• Khadi industries — the industry of hand-spun and hand-woven cloth (khadi) and allied village industries, promoted through the Khadi and Village Industries Commission. …