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Despite their economic importance, MSMEs lack in productivity with only around half as productive as large companies, said a McKinsey Global Institute report

Despite their economic importance, MSMEs lack in productivity with only around half as productive as large companies, said a McKinsey Global Institute report

Jun 03, 2024

Mohammed Ramees

The report said Indian MSMEs are just 26 % as productive as large companies

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The MSME productivity gap was measured in the distance between productivity (value added per worker, $ thousand purchasing power parity) of MSMEs and large companies

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The gap was wider in other emerging economies vis-a-vis advanced economies, e.g. 94% in Kenya, 75% in Indonesia, 53% in Mexico

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In advanced economies it was 16% in the UK, 48% in Japan and Australia, 39% in Germany, 45% in Italy, etc

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Understanding productivity level relative to large enterprises also factored in the size of MSMEs. Micro enterprises trailed large firms by a greater margin in comparison to SMEs

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Reducing the gap could be equal to an average of 10% of GDP in emerging economies. For instance, reducing the gap in India could be equivalent to 11% of GDP

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To fill the gap, the report called for looking at different sub-sectors as MSME productivity ratios vary across sectors

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The report suggested going beyond conventional policies such as credit and encouraging training for MSME employees

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Moreover, improving tech access, building management skills, opening access to new markets, etc., can also help MSMEs with better productivity

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