Sectors of the Indian Economy

With so many thousands of goods and services produced, you might think this is an impossible task! Not only would the task be enormous, you might also wonder how we can add up cars and computers and nails and furniture. It won't make sense!!! You are right in thinking so. To get around this problem, economists suggest that the values of goods and services should be used rather than adding up the actual numbers. For example, if 10,000 kgs of wheat is sold at Rs 20 per kg, the value of wheat will be Rs 2,00,000. The value of 5000 coconuts at Rs 15 per coconut will be Rs 75,000. Similarly, the value of goods and services in the three sectors are calculated, and then added up. Remember, there is one precaution one has to take. Not every good (or service) that is produced and sold needs to be counted. It makes sense only to include the final goods and services. Take, for instance, a farmer who sells wheat to a flour mill for Rs 20 per kg. The mill grinds the wheat and sells the flour to a biscuit company for Rs 25 per kg. The biscuit company uses the flour and things such as sugar and oil to make four packets of biscuits. It sells biscuits in the market to the consumers for Rs 80 (Rs 20 per packet). Biscuits are the final goods, i.e., goods that reach the consumers.

Why are only 'final goods and services' counted? In contrast to final goods, goods such as wheat and the wheat flour in this example are intermediate goods. Intermediate goods are used up in producing final goods and services. The value of final goods already includes the value of all the intermediate goods that are used in making the final good. Hence, the value of Rs 80 for the biscuits (final good) already includes the value of flour (Rs 25). Similarly, the value of all other intermediate goods would have been included. To count the value of the flour and wheat separately is therefore not correct because then we would be counting the value of the same things a number of times. First as wheat, then as flour and finally as biscuits.

The value of final goods and services produced in each sector during a particular year provides the total production of the sector for that year. And the sum of production in the different sectors gives what is called the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country. It is the value of all final goods and services produced within a country during a particular year. GDP shows how big the economy is.

In India, the mammoth task of measuring GDP is undertaken by a central government ministry. This Ministry, with the help of various government departments of all the Indian states and union territories, collects information relating to total volume of goods and services and their prices and then estimates the GDP.

Recently Indian Government began to bring out the contribution of three sectors towards Gross Value Added (GVA) in place of the contribution of three sectors towards Gross Domestic Product to be at par with global practices. The GVA measures the contribution of three sectors of an economy after adjusting for taxes and subsidies. You will learn more about the GVA and the difference between GDP and GVA in higher classes. Here we will only understand how goods and services produced in these three sectors—primary, secondary and tertiary sectors have changed.

Generally, it has been noted from the histories of many, now developed, countries that at initial stages of development, primary sector was the most important sector of economic activity. As the methods of farming changed and agriculture sector began to prosper, it produced much more food than before. Many people could now take up other activities. There were increasing number of craft-persons and traders. Buying and selling activities increased many times. Besides, there were also transporters, administrators, army etc. However, at this stage, most of the goods produced were natural products from the primary sector and most people were also employed in this sector.

Over a long time (more than hundred years), and especially because new methods of manufacturing were introduced, factories came up and started expanding. Those people who had earlier worked on farms now began to work in factories in large numbers. They were forced to do so as you read in history chapters. People began to use many more goods that were produced in factories at cheap rates. Secondary sector gradually became the most important in total production and employment. Hence, over time, a shift had taken place. This means that the importance of the sectors had changed.

In the past 100 years, there has been a further shift from secondary to tertiary sector in developed countries. The service sector has become the most important in terms of total production. Most of the working people are also employed in the service sector. This is the general pattern observed in developed countries.

What is the total production and employment in the three sectors in India? Over the years have there been changes similar to the pattern observed for the developed countries? We shall see in the next section.

Over the forty years between 1977–78 and 2017–18, while production in all the three sectors has increased, it has increased the most in the tertiary sector. As a result, in the year 2017–18, the tertiary sector has emerged as the largest producing sector in India replacing the primary sector. Why is the tertiary sector becoming so important in India? There could be several reasons.

First, in any country several services such as hospitals, educational institutions, post and telegraph services, police stations, courts, village administrative offices, municipal corporations, defence, transport, banks, insurance companies, etc. are required. These can be considered as basic services. In a developing country the government has to take responsibility for the provision of these services.

Second, the development of agriculture and industry leads to the development of services such as transport, trade, storage and the like, as we have already seen. Greater the development of the primary and secondary sectors, more would be the demand for such services.

Third, as income levels rise, certain sections of people start demanding many more services like eating out, tourism, shopping, private hospitals, private schools, professional training etc. You can see this change quite sharply in cities, especially in big cities.

Fourth, over the past decade or so, certain new services such as those based on information and communication technology have become important and essential. The production of these services has been rising rapidly. In Chapter 4, we shall see examples of these new services and the reasons for their expansion.

However, you must remember that not all of the service sector is growing equally well. Service sector in India employs many different kinds of people. At one end there are a limited number of services that employ highly skilled and educated workers. At the other end, there are a very large number of workers engaged in services such as small shopkeepers, repair persons, transport persons, etc. These people barely manage to earn a living and yet they perform these services because no alternative opportunities for work are available to them. Hence, only a part of this sector is growing in importance. You shall read more about this in the next section.

Graph 2 presents percentage share of the three sectors in GVA. Now you can directly see the changing importance of the sectors over the forty years. A remarkable fact about India is that while there has been a change in the share of the three sectors in GVA, a similar shift has not taken place in employment. Graph 3 shows the share of employment in the three sectors in 1977-78 and 2017-18. The primary sector continues to be the largest employer even now.

Why didn't a similar shift out of primary sector happen in case of employment? It is because not enough jobs were created in the secondary and tertiary sectors. Even though industrial output or the production of goods went up by more than nine times during the period, employment in the industry went up by around three times. The same applies to the tertiary sector as well. While production in the service sector rose by 14 times, employment in the service sector rose around five times.

As a result, more than half of the workers in the country are working in the primary sector, mainly in agriculture, producing only about one sixth of the GVA. In contrast to this, the secondary and tertiary sectors produce the rest of the produce whereas they employ less about half the people. Does this mean that the workers in agriculture are not producing as much as they could?

What it means is that there are more people in agriculture than is necessary. So, even if you move a few people out, production will not be affected. In other words, workers in the agricultural sector are underemployed.

For instance, take the case of a small farmer, Laxmi, owning about two hectares of unirrigated land dependent only on rain and growing crops, like jowar and arhar. All five members of her family work in the plot throughout the year. Why? They have nowhere else to go for work. You will see that everyone is working, none remains idle, but in actual fact, their labour effort gets divided. Each one is doing some work but no one is fully employed. This is the situation of underemployment, where people are apparently working but all of them are made to work less than their potential. This kind of underemployment is hidden in contrast to someone who does not have a job and is clearly visible as unemployed. Hence, it is also called disguised unemployment.

Now, supposing a landlord, Sukhram, comes and hires one or two members of the family to work on his land. Laxmi's family is now able to earn some extra income through wages. Since you do not need five people to look after that small plot, two people moving out does not affect production on their farm. In the above example, two people may move to work in a factory. Once again the earnings of the family would increase and they would also continue to produce as much from their land.

There are lakhs of farmers like Laxmi in India. This means that even if we remove a lot of people from agricultural sector and provide them with proper work elsewhere, agricultural production will not suffer. The incomes of the people who take up other work would increase the total family income.

This underemployment can also happen in other sectors. For example there are thousands of casual workers in the service sector in urban areas who search for daily employment. They are employed as painters, plumbers, repair persons and others doing odd jobs. Many of them don't find work everyday. Similarly, we see other people of the service sector on the street pushing a cart or selling something where they may spend the whole day but earn very little. They are doing this work because they do not have better opportunities.

From the above discussion, we can see that there continues to be considerable underemployment in agriculture. There are also people who are not employed at all. In what ways can one increase employment for people? Let us look at some of them.

Take the case of Laxmi with her two-hectare plot of unirrigated land. The government can spend some money or banks can provide a loan, to construct a well for her family to irrigate the land. Laxmi will then be able to irrigate her land and take a second crop, wheat, during the rabi season. Let us suppose that one hectare of wheat can provide employment to two people for 50 days (including sowing, watering, fertiliser application and harvesting). So, two more members of the family can be employed in her own field. Now suppose a new dam is constructed and canals are dug to irrigate many such farms. This could lead to a lot of employment generation within the agricultural sector itself reducing the problem of underemployment.

Now, suppose Laxmi and other farmers produce much more than before. They would also need to sell some of this. For this they may be required to transport their products to a nearby town. If the government invests some money in transportation and storage of crops, or makes better rural roads so that mini-trucks reach everywhere several farmers like Laxmi, who now have access to water, can continue to grow and sell these crops. This activity can provide productive employment to not just farmers but also others such as those in services like transport or trade.

Laxmi's need is not confined to water alone. To cultivate the land, she also needs seeds, fertilisers, agricultural equipment and pumpsets to draw water. Being a poor farmer, she cannot afford many of these. So, she will have to borrow money from moneylenders and pay a high rate of interest. If the local bank gives her credit at a reasonable rate of interest, she will be able to buy all these in time and cultivate her land. This means that along with water, we also need to provide cheap agricultural credit to the farmers for farming to improve. We will look at some of these needs in Chapter 3, Money and Credit.

Another way by which we can tackle this problem is to identify, promote and locate industries and services in semi-rural areas where a large number of people may be employed. For instance, suppose many farmers decide to grow arhar and chickpea (pulse crops). Setting up a dal mill to procure and process these and sell in the cities is one such example. Opening a cold storage could give an opportunity for farmers to store their products like potatoes and onions and sell them when the price is good. In villages near forest areas, we can start honey collection centres where farmers can come and sell wild honey. It is also possible to set up industries that process vegetables and agricultural produce like potato, sweet potato, rice, wheat, tomato, fruits, which can be sold in outside markets. This will provide employment in industries located in semi-rural areas and not necessarily in large urban centres.

Do you know that in India about 60 per cent of the population belongs to the age group 5-29 years? Out of this, only about 51 per cent are attending educational institutions. The rest and particularly those aged less than 18 years may be at home or many of them may be working as child labourers. If these children are to attend schools, we will require more buildings, more teachers and other staff. A study conducted by the erstwhile Planning Commission (now known as NITI Aayog) estimates that nearly 20 lakh jobs can be created in the education sector alone. Similarly, if we are to improve the health situation, we need many more doctors, nurses, health workers etc. to work in rural areas. These are some ways by which jobs would be created and we would also be able to address the important aspects of development talked about in Chapter 1.

Every state or region has potential for increasing the income and employment for people in that area. It could be tourism, or regional craft industry, or new services like IT. Some of these would require proper planning and support from the government. For example, the same study by the Planning Commission says that if tourism as a sector is improved, every year we can give additional employment to more than 35 lakh people.

We must realise that some of the suggestions discussed above would take a long time to implement. For the short-term, we need some quick measures. Recognising this, the central government in India made a law implementing the Right to Work in about 625 districts of India. It is called Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA 2005). Under MGNREGA 2005, all those who are able to, and are in need of, work in rural areas are guaranteed 100 days of employment in a year by the government. If the government fails in its duty to provide employment, it will give unemployment allowances to the people. The types of work that would in future help to increase the production from land will be given preference under the Act.

a) Kanta works in an office. She attends her office from 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. She gets her salary regularly at the end of every month. In addition to the salary, she also gets provident fund as per the rules laid down by the government. She also gets medical and other allowances. Kanta does not go to office on Sundays. This is a paid holiday. When she joined work, she was given an appointment letter stating all the terms and conditions of work.

b) Kamal is Kanta's neighbour. He is a daily wage labourer in a nearby grocery shop. He goes to the shop at 7:30 in the morning and works till 8:00 p.m. in the evening. He gets no other allowances apart from his wages. He is not paid for the days he does not work. He has therefore no leave or paid holidays. Nor was he given any formal letter saying that he has been employed in the shop. He can be asked to leave anytime by his employer.

Do you see the differences in the conditions of work between Kanta and Kamal?

Kanta works in the organised sector. Organised sector covers those enterprises or places of work where the terms of employment are regular and therefore, people have assured work. They are registered by the government and have to follow its rules and regulations which are given in various laws such as the Factories Act, Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Gratuity Act, Shops and Establishments Act etc. It is called organised because it has some formal processes and procedures. Some of these people may not be employed by anyone but may work on their own but they too have to register themselves with the government and follow the rules and regulations.

Workers in the organised sector enjoy security of employment. They are expected to work only a fixed number of hours. If they work more, they have to be paid overtime by the employer. They also get several other benefits from the employers. What are these benefits? They get paid leave, payment during holidays, provident fund, gratuity etc. They are supposed to get medical benefits and, under the laws, the factory manager has to ensure facilities like drinking water and a safe working environment. When they retire, these workers get pensions as well.

In contrast, Kamal works in the unorganised sector. The unorganised sector is characterised by small and scattered units which are largely outside the control of the government. There are rules and regulations but these are not followed. Jobs here are low-paid and often not regular. There is no provision for overtime, paid leave, holidays, leave due to sickness etc. Employment is not secure. People can be asked to leave without any reason. When there is less work, such as during some seasons, some people may be asked to leave. A lot also depends on the whims of the employer. This sector includes a large number of people who are employed on their own doing small jobs such as selling on the street or doing repair work. Similarly, farmers work on their own and hire labourers as and when they require.

The organised sector offers jobs that are the most sought-after. But the employment opportunities in the organised sector have been expanding very slowly. It is also common to find many organised sector enterprises in the unorganised sector. They adopt such strategies to evade taxes and refuse to follow laws that protect labourers. As a result, a large number of workers are forced to enter the unorganised sector jobs, which pay a very low salary. They are often exploited and not paid a fair wage. Their earnings are low and not regular. These jobs are not secure and have no other benefits.

Since the 1990s, it is also common to see a large number of workers losing their jobs in the organised sector. These workers are forced to take up jobs in the unorganised sector with low earnings. Hence, besides the need for more work, there is also a need for protection and support of the workers in the unorganised sector. Who are these vulnerable people who need protection? In the rural areas, the unorganised sector mostly comprises of landless agricultural labourers, small and marginal farmers, sharecroppers and artisans (such as weavers, blacksmiths, carpenters and goldsmiths). Nearly 80 per cent of rural households in India are in small and marginal farmer category. These farmers need to be supported through adequate facility for timely delivery of seeds, agricultural inputs, credit, storage facilities and marketing outlets.

In the urban areas, unorganised sector comprises mainly of workers in small-scale industry, casual workers in construction, trade and transport etc., and those who work as street vendors, head load workers, garment makers, rag pickers etc. Small-scale industry also needs government's support for procuring raw material and marketing of output. The casual workers in both rural and urban areas need to be protected.

We also find that majority of workers from scheduled castes, tribes and backward communities find themselves in the unorganised sector. Besides getting the irregular and low paid work, these workers also face social discrimination. Protection and support to the unorganised sector workers is thus necessary for both economic and social development.