A steady growth of SC entrepreneurs

Although Tamil Nadu has over 56,000 units owned by the community, it has not been a path of roses

Tamil Nadu, a front-ranking State in the sector of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), is witnessing a steady growth of entrepreneurs from the Scheduled Castes.

Though the number of the SC entrepreneurs is not proportionate to the share of the community in the population, it is growing. In fact, as per the 4th All India Census of MSMEs (registered sector) census undertaken in 2006-07 and published in 2011, the State had the highest number of SC-owned enterprises with 18,120, about 15.24% of such units at the all-India level. (When the Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum system of registration of enterprises came to an end in June 2020, the number of SC-owned enterprises went up to 56,047).

Relying on the census data, Milind Kamble, founder-chairman of the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DICCI), told the Global Investors’ Meet in Chennai in September 2015 that the State had the largest number of SC entrepreneurs in the country. He is still quoting the data because, he says, no such census has been carried out since then. About 10 years later, only the National Sample Survey 73rd Round (2015-16) was carried out. In the subsequent years, other States had overtaken Tamil Nadu but this may be temporary in view of the non-availability of comprehensive data.