Title: Microenterprise success of home-based garment makers in Bangalore, India

Authors: T.S. Devaraja; Ananda Wickramasinghe

Addresses: Department of Commerce, Post Graduate Centre, University of Mysore, Hassan – 573220, India ' Sydney Business School, Innovation Campus, University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2522 NSW Australia

Abstract: Home-based producers are some of the most invisible workers in the unorganised sector in India. In many industries, including garment production, they comprise a significant proportion of the workforce. In order to document this as well as to make visible the contribution of home-based producers, proper estimates of their numbers and output are necessary. Because these producers work within their homes, often on activities closely related to household production for consumption, they are easily slipped in labour force estimates. Added to this problem is the fact that many home-based producers are women, and women have traditionally been an under-counted group within labour force statistics. The purpose of this paper is to make visible the number and contribution of male and female home-based garment producers in Bangalore, India illustrating any deficiencies in official statistics on home-based industries. The paper concludes with recommendations to incorporating the home-based producers and strategies to improve the contribution of female home-based garment producers in Bangalore.

Keywords: home based producers; garment makers; unorganised sector; microenterprises; India; invisible workforce; garment industry; apparel industry; clothing industry; garment producers; home workers; households; production for consumption; labour force statistics; women workers; female workers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2014.064699

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2014 Vol.9 No.3, pp.371 - 387

Received: 28 Jul 2013
Accepted: 14 Dec 2013

Published online: 13 Sep 2014 *

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