Cluster Policy and Promotion of Entrepreneurship in North East India - A Study with Special Reference to Handicraft Clusters of Tripura

Abstract

The paper examines the cluster policies and promotion of entrepreneurial activities in North East India in general and Tripura in particular. High level of entrepreneurship in India was reported by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Reports of several years but India’s North East Region in general and Tripura in particular have not been able to keep pace with the country’s level of entrepreneurship development. Over the decades cluster policy has been introduced to provide a boost to the small scale industrial sector of the country as a whole. This has been conceptualized through the implementation of the idea of a balanced economic development, fostering entrepreneurship in MSME sector which is capable to generate maximum employment opportunity and income as well as earnings from exports. There is evidence of successful industrial clusters in India which significantly contribute to the country’s economy by exporting 60% of their manufactured items. Positive relations between the clusters and entrepreneurship was suggested by several authors (porter and Delgado, 2010). In modern times developed and developing economy implementing the cluster concept as an instrument for the development of micro and small enterprises. Tripura occupies the highest rank in terms of handicraft clusters in North East India. The present study is based on secondary data. It is an effort to examine the promotion of entrepreneurial activities in the handicraft sector of Tripura by adopting the benefit provided by the concept of establishing cluster in different parts of the state. The present paper is divided into four sections. Section-I deals with the introductory theme of this paper along with review of literature and methodology. Section II deals with a brief exposition of cluster policy approach as adopted in India with special emphasis on the policy as followed and practiced, with suitable implications in North East States of India. Section III analyses the cluster policy as adopted and followed in Tripura to find a plausible relationship between the effect of cluster policy and entrepreneurial activity. Section IV concludes the paper.