State of MSMEs and microenterprises in India: State of the sector reports and financial diaries

• Dec 28, 2023
• 1 min

‘Voices of India’s MSMEs’ was a first-of-its-kind effort that explored the financial lives of MSMEs, with a focus on the informal, non-agri segment across India. The study examined the policy environment, market dynamics, access to finance, digitization, business management practices, and gender balance in entrepreneurship. It intended to support policymakers, financial institutions, industry bodies, and multilateral agencies in making more informed decisions.

India’s MSME ecosystem lacks a robust data system that captures the pain points and financial and operational health of informal MSMEs. This project helped bridge that gap by creating actionable insights that fed into feedback loops for industry and policy interventions.

Commissioned by Omidyar Network India and conducted in partnership with the World Bank, MSC led this pioneering initiative under the banner of ‘Voices of India’s MSMEs – Informal Enterprises’. The initiative produced a series of reports, technical notes, and interactive data dashboards, creating a credible and usable data source for all sector stakeholders. A key output of this initiative was the ‘State of India’s Informal Sector Report’.

A core component of the study was the Financial Diaries-based research on informal enterprises, which enabled a nuanced understanding of their financial behaviors and practices. The research also explored non-financial aspects such as the aspirations and needs of entrepreneurs. This rich data set, combined with insights from the World Bank’s Informal Enterprises Survey, formed the foundation of a robust, reliable data source now available for sector-wide use