About 44.0 per cent of the total manufactured exports of the country are directly accounted for by the SSI sector. In terms of employment generation, this sector is next to agriculture sector, employing approximately 295 lakh people.
For the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector, the estimated incremental working capital provided by the scheduled commercial banks during the Eleventh Five Year Plan would be at Rs.1,67,989 crore, which amounts to a growth rate of an average 16.8 per cent per annum.