Definition of SME (small and medium-sized enterprise). The Ministry of Industries defines enterprises as cottage, micro, small, medium, and large enterprises, on the basis of'employment' and'fixed investment'. As SMEs, by definition, refers to small and medium-sized enterprises, the nomenclature is frequently misunderstood and used inappropriately to address cottage and micro enterprises as well. Surveys show that cottage and micro enterprises constitute 97% of all industries by number and employ 41% of the nonagricultural workforce. The SMEDP (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development Project) financed 13,645 enterprises having on average 6.4 employees per enterprise, indicating that a vast majority of beneficiaries are cottage and micro enterprises.
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development Project