New Delhi : (IANS) Around 59 percent of employees working in micro medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) are skilled, 21 percent are on job training and 20 percent are unskilled, says a collaborative research report by PHD Chamber and Avian Media.

“About 42 percent of the respondent MSMEs conduct skill development training programmes for their employees, of them 69 percent believe that these structured programmes benefit their organisations in terms of improving know-how, reducing knowledge gaps among employees and enhancing their capabilities to handle responsibilities,” the report stated.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a tool for addressing various long standing problems of the MSMEs in the country in the wake of the changing dynamics under the Make in India initiative, it said.

The report titled “Bolstering MSMEs for Make in India – with special focus on Corporate Social Responsibility” was released by R.K. Panigrahi, director, MSME Development Institute, Ministry of MSME.

The survey was conducted for MSMEs situated across Faridabad and Okhla regions of northern central region.

According to the survey report, CSR funding to the MSMEs will give the sector exposure to new methods, processes, technology, excellence and other key parameters of large enterprises, which would enable the SMEs to enhance their capacities and overall productivity.

“MSME sector has immense potential to play a significant role to push India’s growth in strong and sustainable growth trajectory. The sector must be facilitated in terms of their credit demand, enhanced scope for capital requirements, availability of land and labour and ease of doing business,” said Mahesh Gupta, president, PHD Chamber.

To pursue the targets of Make in India, the government has identified various sectors which are to be focused, including automobiles and auto components, food processing, leather and textiles among others.

Since, almost all these identified sectors are majorly operating under the MSMEs segment of the country, this sector will play a critical role in making the Make in India initiative a success, the report further said.