Financial Access of Unorganised Manufacturing Enterprises in Assam

The unorganised sector is no more considered as a residual one in the developing and in the underdeveloped countries; rather it is considered as a common component of such economies. This sector is playing an important role in those countries both in terms of its contribution to the national income and employment generation. However, despite its importance, the enterprises in this sector are facing various problems. A large segment of enterprises state non-accessibility to credit is the most important problem faced by them. Moreover, existing reports and literature states that the formal financial institutions are not interested to deal with the unorganised enterprises. As a result, they have to depend on the informal sources of credit. This present paper based on secondary data analyses the various characteristics of unorganised manufacturing enterprises in Assam and their accessibility to credit. Results indicate that the average amount of outstanding loan per unorganised manufacturing enterprise in Assam is smaller than that of all-India average. Again, the enterprises in the rural areas are more dependent on the non-institutional sources of credit when compared to those in the urban areas. Similarly, the smaller enterprises have limited access to credit from the formal financial institutions as compared to the larger enterprises.