Enterprise Risk Management in MSME Units–A Study on the Indian Scenario

The Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise [MSME] sector occupies a prominent position in the Indian economy. This sector offers some unique features like high employment generation capacity, significant contribution to the GDP and foreign exchange earnings of the nation as well as the power to remove regional imbalances in industrialization. The MSME units cater to markets inaccessible to or ignored by large industries. However, in spite of such benefits, the units in the MSME sector suffer from certain inherent limitations which, coupled with adverse factors external to the units, bring about business failures and hinder the development of this sector. Traditional risk management approach envisages application of advanced and complex quantitative techniques which is usually beyond the capacity of entrepreneurs of MSME sector in India. This paper aims to suggest a qualitative approach towards implementing Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) for sustainable development of the MSME units in India through the process of certain pro-active decision making.