SMEs in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka: A Comparative Analysis with focus on Barriers to Growth

Abstract

South Asian countries, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are facing common problems. There are issues of large population, unemployment, poverty, bad governance, rising disparities of income and development, illiteracy, and poor living standards, etc. SMEs may provide a solution to some of these vexed issues. However the growth of SMEs is constrained because of several barriers such as financial, marketing, lack of technology and misplaced government policies, etc. Therefore, this study makes a comparison of three countries in areas of growth and development of the small scale sector to derive consistent policy measures. This paper highlights some progressive steps which can lead to high economic growth rates of these countries by systematically addressing fundamental issues of SMEs.