Conclusion: Manufacturing and Employment in South Asia

This volume has gathered a great deal of evidence on industrial development, structural transformation and employment generation in the South Asian region. In this concluding chapter, we recapitulate the cumulative evidence and insights drawn from the chapters. For various practical reasons, South Asia shares a common development context and demography. Economies in South Asia had initiated economic liberalisation more than two decades back. This resulted in an increase in capital intensity in the manufacturing sector together with falling employment intensity, even as some improvement in labour productivity is observed during this phase. However, rise in capital intensity in the industry has not necessarily contributed to technological deepening measured in terms of value addition perhaps, due to serious innovation shortfall. Although India has overwhelming presence in the region, it has almost similar challenges and opportunities in the traditional industries that are pursued in the region. India definitely has much wider industrial base and is better placed in terms of technology-intensive manufacturing.