SMEs’ Survey of Gujranwala District 

Exploring the SMEs’ Business Dynamics 
 

 
 
 

State Bank of Pakistan 
Banking Services Corporation (Bank) 
Development Finance Support Department 
Head Office Karachi & 
SBP‐BSC Gujranwala 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Team 

Saleem Ullah, Director, DFSD, HOK [email protected]

Muhammad Munir Ahmed, CM, SBP-BSC Gujranwala [email protected]

Amjad Maqsood, JJD, DFSD, HOK [email protected]

Obaid ur Rehaman, Head, DFSU, Gujranwala obaid.rehman @sbp.org.pk

Abdul Malik Achakzai, AD, DFSU, Quetta [email protected]

Mirza Abdur Rehman AD, DFSD, HOK [email protected]

The following students of Punjab College of Information Technology, Gujranwala (PCIT) and
Research Officers of R&D Cell of Gujranwala Chambers of Commerce & Industry (GCC&I)
conducted the field survey

1. Hafiz Muhammad Rizwan Student of PCIT, Gujranwala

2. Usman Haider Student of PCIT, Gujranwala
3. Usman Shakoor Research Officer, R & D Cell GCC&I
4. Sheraz Mer Research Officer, R & D Cell GCC&I

Special thanks are to the members of Gujranwala Chambers of Commerce & Industry (GCC&I)
for their cooperation and facilitation in the conduct of survey.

  

   
 Table of Contents

Introduction ………………………………………………………………..… 1
Executive Summary …………… ……………………………………………. 2
Survey Methodology ………………………………………………………… 9
General Characteristics of SMEs ………………………………………… ….10
Manufacturing SMEs …………………………………………………………13
Trading Concerns ...…………………………………………………………19
Accounting and Record Keeping Practices. …………………………..……...21
Business Development Services ………………………….…………………. 24
Access to Finance …………………………………………….………………26
Key Issues ….. ……………..………………………………………………. 31
Conclusion……………..…………………………………………………….. 34
Annexures ………………………………………………………………….. 36
 

 
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008

Introduction
The limited information and understanding of banks about the SMEs‟ business dynamics has
been one of the key reasons for their limited penetration in the SMEs sector particularly the
smaller firms that constitutes bulk of the SMEs operating in the country. The banks
traditionally focused on serving the financing needs of corporate sector and larger firms with
absolutely no focus on the medium and smaller sized firms due to perceived high risks,
information asymmetries, high transaction cost due to small tickets and large volumes and no
or limited understanding of the sector. The sector thus, despite contributing significantly in
the country‟s economic development and employment creation, could not fetch due attention
of the banks‟ senior management and as such the banks‟ capacity to effectively serve the
sector remained limited. State Bank of Pakistan and SBP-BSC since the recent past have
taken a number of initiatives to strengthen the banks‟ capacity including training and capacity
building programs for banks‟ SME finance staff and research studies and surveys to broaden
and deepen the banks‟ understanding of the sector.
The SME Surveys of Gujranwala District was initiated as pilot projects to explore the sector
in detail and thus enable SBP and banks to devise market responsive initiatives and products
to bring larger number of SMEs in the fold of banking system. The survey was conducted by
SBP-BSC Gujranwala office through interns of a local Business School under the guidance
and supervision of Development Finance Support Department (DFSD) HOK. The
Gujranwala Chamber of Commerce and Industry also fully supported the conduct of the
survey and lend its 2 young officers of its Research and Development Cell to SBP-BSC
Gujranwala to work as members of the survey teams. The Chamber also provided a list of
trading units operating in the District that helped us a lot in sample selection for the trading
units. The Chamber‟s support also proved extremely useful in minimizing the SMEs‟
apprehensions about the usage and confidentiality of the information being collected as
otherwise it would have been difficult to get the questionnaires filled and collect the SMEs‟
response on the survey questions.
The survey questionnaire comprised 135 questions grouped in 6 parts viz. i) general
information about the SMEs and their proprietors/partners, ii) Manufacturing SMEs,
iii)Trading SMEs, iv)Accounting & Record keeping, v)Access to Business Development
Services, vi)Access to Finance and vii) Key Issues and Challenges.
Responses of 300 SMEs, with a break-up of 210 manufacturing units and 90 trading units,
selected randomly using stratified sampling technique, were collected and compiled. The
survey provides detailed information and insights about the key features, assets base, cash
flow cycles, growth trends and potential thereof, the levels of access to financial services
along with the reasons for the limited access and finally the key issues and challenges faced
by the sector and reasons thereof. While most of the SMEs have more or less similar set-up
and business and economic conditions, the results of the survey however cannot be
generalized for all the SMEs operating across the country. We have plans to cover some more
regions in the near future which would enable us to assess the possibility of generalization of
the survey findings for all SMEs operating across the country.

Page 1 of 41
 Executive Summary
Objectives
The survey was aimed at exploring the SME sector of Gujranwala district to facilitate SMEs
stakeholders, particularly the banks in enhancing their understanding of the sector. This will
enable them to expand their outreach in the sector particularly to the smaller firms that have
been remained largely out of the banking services‟ net. It would also help SBP to better
design and focus its policy, regulatory and promotional initiatives to increase the flow of
funds to the SMEs generally and low end SMEs particularly. The survey was conducted as a
pilot project and similar surveys will be conducted for SMEs operating in other regions for
having a better understanding of their business dynamics, risk profiles, growth potentials and
cash flow cycles etc.
Survey Methodology
The survey covered 300 manufacturing & trading SMEs operating across the district. As the
district is a hub of manufacturing SMEs, 70% of the SMEs covered in the survey were
manufacturing concerns and 30% were trading concerns. The manufacturing SMEs were
selected from the directory of industrial establishments Punjab 2006 that gives district-wise
data of industrial establishments in Punjab. Using the directory 30 major industrial clusters
were identified and 4 – 11 units from each cluster were selected randomly. A total of 90
trading units were also selected randomly from the list provided by Gujranwala Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (GCCI).

Two Teams of two surveyors each were constituted comprising an MBA student of a local
Business School and an officer of GCCI R&D Cell. The teams were provided training for
about 10 days on the objectives of the survey and the survey methodology.

Survey Findings

SME Type and Size

More than 68% of the SMEs covered by the survey were proprietorship concerns, about 27%
were partnership concerns and 4% were corporates. Most of the firms (61%) were small in
size employing up to 10 workers, 22% had 11-25 workers, 9% 26-50 workers and only 7%
had more than 50 workers. The trading concerns were predominately small with 93% having
up to 10 workers, 6% 11-25 workers and only 1% more than 25 workers. The manufacturing
units though also largely small, however were relatively larger than the trading concerns.
48% of the manufacturing units had up to 10 workers, 30% 11-25 workers, 13% 26-50
workers and remaining 9% had more than 50 workers.

Entrepreneur’s Educational Qualification

49% SMEs were owned and operated by businessmen having inter or graduate level
qualification; the manufacturing units had relatively better educated owners as 50% of them
were owned/run by inter or graduate level entrepreneurs compared to 45% such trading
SMEs. Only 3% of the SMEs were headed by entrepreneurs having master level
qualification; also 4% were headed by entrepreneurs with no education.

Technical/professional Training of Owners

About 70% SMEs‟ owners/proprietors had not obtained any training, formal or informal for
their business; 81% in trading SMEs and 65% in manufacturing units. Only 4% had obtained
formal training, mostly in manufacturing units, whereas 26% obtained informal training from
their mentors (Ustads); 30% manufacturing units and 16% trading units had
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
owners/proprietors who had obtained informal training. Further the larger firms have more
trained entrepreneurs/ businessmen than the smaller firms.

Entry into the Business

64% of the respondents units were self starters i.e. the entrepreneurs themselves started the
business whereas 34% had inherited the business units and a meager 2% had either acquired
or joined the running businesses. The SME type wise analysis of entry into business shows
that 60% of manufacturing units were self starter compared to 71% of the trading units;
whereas 38% of manufacturing and 27% of trading units were inherited by the existing
owners.

Ownership of Business Premises

74% of the SMEs had their own premises, whereas 26% were working in the rented premises.
The manufacturing units have greater tendency to own the business premises as 87% of them
owned their business premises compared to 44% trading units that owned the premises.
Further most of the larger sized SMEs owned their business premises than the smaller firms;
87% of the SMEs operating in rented premises had up to 10 employees and 13% had 11-50
employees. The ownership of the business premises by majority (74%) of the SMEs is a
healthy sign, as it could be leveraged to raise funds from banks and financial institutions to
expand the business.

Market Value of Owned Premises

The average market value of the land/buildings owned by 62% SMEs was about Rs.12
million with minimum & maximum of Rs.0.2 million & 80 million. However 38% SMEs
who owned their business premises did not respond to the question about market value of the
premises.

Average Monthly Rent

The average monthly rent of the SMEs operating in rented premises was Rs. 9,300/- with
minimum and maximum of Rs. 550/- and Rs. 61,000/- p.m. Most of these SMEs were small
units paying monthly rent of up to Rs. 10,000/-; only 23% were paying more than Rs.
10,000/- p.m. whereas 12% did not disclose the rent they were paying.

Manufacturing SMEs

Number of Workers & HR Composition

Most of the manufacturing units are small employing on average 26 workers with minimum
and maximum 1 and 250 workers. About 23% manufacturing units had up to 5 workers, 48%
up to 10 workers and 71% up to 20 workers; only 29% had more than 20 employees. Further
the 210 manufacturing units surveyed had 5,396 workers of which 52% were skilled, 20%
semi skilled and 28% were unskilled.

Major Products and their Nature

The major products produced in the district include ceramics and sanitary fittings, electronic
goods, fans, air coolers, motor pumps, agri-implements, auto parts, cutlery, utensils, grey
cloth, silk, shawls etc. About 19% of the firms are producing intermediate goods and 81%
are producing final/finished goods.

Page 3 of 41
Sale Destinations
The goods produced in Gujranwala are in good demand both across the country and in
international markets. About 15% units sale their products within the district, 22% across the
Punjab province and 43% have sales across the country. Further 15% units are serving both
export and local markets and 3% are exporting all their production. Most of the firms thus
have country wide market which is encouraging given the predominantly smaller nature of
firms and is indicative of their capacity to have linkage and connectivity with the markets
across the country.

Sale Mode and Payment Receipt Composition

About 47% manufacturing units sell their products on both cash and credit, 18% on cash
only, 32% on credit only and 3% display their items on showroom/shops etc and receive
payments only after sale of their products. Further on average 41% of the payments and
receipts are made through cheques, about 52% through cash and 7% through other
instruments like Parchi, Hawala etc. The 41% payments/receipts through cheques are
encouraging given the predominantly small firms covered in the survey and are indicative of
improving acceptability of cheque as a payment instrument amongst the small units.

Basic Raw Material Sources

59% manufacturing units had basic raw material available within Gujranwala district and
another 16% from within Punjab province; only 10% units procure their basic raw material
from across the country; 13% use both local and imported raw material and 1% use only
imported raw material.

Cost Structures
The raw material cost constitutes the bulk (62%) of the manufacturing SMEs‟ cost structure
followed by energy charges that make-up 17% of the total cost. The labor cost that used to be
the second major cost after raw material is now the third major cost constituting 14% of the
total cost due to significant rise in energy charges since the recent past. The Industry average
for admin/operating expense is 6.6% whereas the financial charges on average constitutes 4%
of the total cost with minimum and maximum of 2% and 10% respectively.

Average Credit Collection Period

About 19% manufacturing units on average collect all their credits within 15 days of the sale,
another 26% within 16-30 days, 15% within 31-60 days and 27% take 90 days or more in the
collection and recovery of the credit.

Sales Growth
About 58% of the manufacturing units opined that they registered no or negative growth in
sales during last three years with 34% registering negative growth. The remaining 48%
however registered positive growth ranging from 25% to over 100%. Of the 30 clusters
covered in the survey, 15 registered positive growth, 9 booked negative growth and 6 clusters
registered no growth. The Marble, Utensils, Sanitary Fittings, Furnace Steel, and Ceramics
registered positive growth whereas Hosiery, Power looms, and Foundry reported negative
growth. These growth estimates are however based on the SMEs‟ response and not on the
review of the SMEs‟ financial statements and thus might have some perception or deliberate
biases. There is a tendency amongst the business community to understate their profits and
sales etc due to deeply ingrained fears of taxation departments.
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008

Optimism about future Growth

Despite pessimism due to high energy costs, frequent power outages, rising raw material
prices, high inflation and uncertain economic & political situation, about 55% of the SMEs
were optimistic and hopeful about future growth prospects.

Investment in Plant & Machinery

62% manufacturing SMEs did not make any major investment in plant and machinery during
last 5 years. The remaining 38% manufacturing units however invested Rs. 250,000/- and
more to improve their plant and machinery during the same period.

Plan for further investment in Plant & Machinery

52% manufacturing units have no plans to invest in machinery and other fixed assets in
future, the remaining 48% however have plans to improve investment in their plant and
machinery. 64% of the units having plans to invest in plants and machinery would like to
finance the investment through personal savings and the remaining 36% through a mix of
personal savings and bank loans. Interestingly small firms are relatively more optimistic
about future and have plans to invest in plant and machinery than the larger firms. for
instance 53% of the firms having up to 10 workers would like to improve their existing plant
and machinery compared to about 36% firms employing 11-25 workers and 41% of the firms
having 26-50 workers.

Power Outages and Production time loses

62% of the manufacturing units did not have their own power generation mechanism and thus
had to shut their operations during the power outages. Most of units are experiencing
production time losses of 24 hours or more per.

Trading SMEs
Legal Type and Firm Size
82% of the trading units were proprietorship firms and remaining 18% partnership concerns;
none of the trading units was a company. Further most of the trading units were very small
with 93% having up to 10 employees. The assets base of most of the firms was also very thin
as only 20% had total assets (excluding land and building) in excess of Rs. 1 million. In terms
of sales, 69% had monthly sales of up to Rs. 0.5 million, 17% Rs. 0.5 – Rs.1 million and 12%
more than Rs.1 million.

Sale composition (Credit vs. Cash)

12% trading units sell only on cash basis, 21% had credit sales of up to 20%, 35% had 21 –
50% and remaining about 33% had more than 50% of their sales on credit. Further 79%
SMEs engaged in credit sales recover the outstanding credits on average within 30 days,
about 9% in 31- 60 days and 12% in 90 days and more.

Accounts Receivable and Payables

The average account receivables of the trading units were 1.486 million with minimum &
maximum of Rs 5,000 & 30 million. About 69% SMEs had average receivables of up to
Rs.0.2 and only 10% had more than Rs.1 million. The average accounts payables were even
lower at Rs.0.891 million with 56% having average payables of up to Rs.01 million, 30%
Rs.0.1-0.5 million and 14% more than Rs. 0.5 million.

Page 5 of 41
Payment Receipt composition
About 38% trading SMEs make/receive payments only in cash and 4% only through cheques.
13% use cheques for up to 10% of the payments/receipt, 29% for 21-50% of the
payments/receipts and 16% make/receive 60-90% of their payments through cheques.

Accounting and Business Development Services

Formal Books of Accounts

74% SMEs do not maintain formal books of accounts; the ratio is 80% for trading units and
71% for manufacturing units. There is a strong positive correlation between the firm size and
the maintenance of books of accounts. The larger firms have greater tendency to maintain the
formal books. Similarly the SMEs headed by educated entrepreneurs have larger tendency to
maintain formal books of accounts than the SMEs run by entrepreneurs with no or lesser
education. Most SMEs are maintaining informal books of account (Day book/Payment and
Receipts book) and periodically assess their profits and losses. Further 73% SMEs having
informal accounting books, record the periodic withdrawals to meet the personal expenses,
the rest 27% however don‟t record the withdrawals made for personal use.

Accounting Training
None of the SMEs that are keeping informal accounting books received any accounting
training from SMEDA or other training institutes. 9% of the SMEs maintaining formal books
of accounts however received accounting and book keeping training from SMEDA. Further
68% of the SMEs would not like to attend training program on accounting and maintenance
of books of accounts even if provided free of cost; only 32% expressed their willingness to
attend such program.

Computer Usage
46% of the total firms covered in the survey (50% of the manufacturing and 38% of the
trading units) have Computers. 57% of the firms having computers are using them for
maintaining books of accounts whereas the remaining 43% for letter writing/email/internet
etc. 65% of the firms that are using computers for maintaining books of accounts have
purchased/developed their own Accounting software whereas the remaining 35% are using
Excel etc for maintaining the accounting records. Further 95% SMEs have no information
about the accounting software developed by SMEDA and only 20% of the SMEs expressed
their willingness to acquire the SMEDA accounting software.

Business Development Services

91% SMEs have no awareness about the Business Development Services (BDS) with almost
all the smaller firms having no information about the BDS. Lack of awareness, no or limited
belief in the utility of the programs, lack of reputed institutions, lack of time with the owner/
member/partners are some of the key reasons for the SMEs‟ no or limited interest in BDS.
Further 59% SMEs expressed their willingness to attend BDS programs if arranged free of
cost, the rest 41% however, had no faith in such programs.

Training program and HR Development for Workers

97% SMEs have not arranged any training programs for their workers during the last 2 years.
Almost all the trading units opined that their workers don‟t need any training due to simple
and non-technical nature of their business activities. Further most of the trainings in both
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
manufacturing and trading units are on the job wherein the seniors/Ustads imparts training to
the juniors/Shagirds during live operations.

Access to Finance

Bank Accounts
90% SMEs have bank accounts; 50% in the name of SMEs and 40% in the name of their
proprietors and or partners; 10% have no bank account neither in the name of SMEs nor in
the name of their proprietors. Almost all the SMEs not having the bank accounts are small
units having up to 10 employees. Further majority of the SMEs opened the bank accounts
during last 7-8 years, the period during which the banking industry registered fast pace
growth and expansion.

Loans for Business Expansion

Only 35% SMEs need loans to expand their business while 65% don‟t need any loan for
business expansion. The smaller firms are relatively shy of accessing the bank loans than the
larger firms. For instance 66% of the SMEs having up to 100 employees don‟t need loans
compared to about 50% of the firms having more than 100 workers.

Whether Approached by Banks

68% SMEs were approached by banks for extending loans and other financial services; 32%
however were never approached by banks. Further although banks‟ marketing staff had a
relatively greater focus on larger SMEs, however a substantial proportion (66%) of smaller
firms having up to 10 employees were also approached by banks marketing staff for
introduction of their products and services. This is a healthy sign and is indicative of
improving interest of banks in small enterprises.

Awareness about Banks loan Products

73% SMEs had awareness about banks‟ loan products with 43% receiving the information
through the banks‟ marketing staff, 13% through their business colleagues and another 13%
through multiple sources including banks‟ marketing staff. 27% SMEs however had no
awareness about banks‟ loan products and procedure to obtain the loans.

Whether Applied for Bank Loan?

Only 25% SMEs applied for bank loans whereas the remaining 75% never applied for the
bank loans; most of the SMEs that applied for bank loans were the manufacturing concerns.
Further the larger firms have greater tendency to apply and avail bank loans than the smaller
firms. For instance 16% of the firms having up to 10 employees applied for bank loans
compared to 83% firms having more than 100 employees. The interest (Riba) based loan
products, high interest rates and banks‟ cumbersome and lengthy procedure were reported as
the primary reasons for not applying for bank loans.

Loan Acceptance Ratio

The loan acceptance ratio was encouragingly high at 84% which is indicative of Banks‟
willingness to cater to the SMEs financial services needs. 35% of the SMEs whose loans
were accepted were very small having up to 10 workers and another 27% had 11-25 workers.
Thus although the larger firms have greater tendency to apply for bank loans and their loan
acceptance ratio‟s are also relatively higher, most of the smaller firms that applied for the
loans have been able to obtain the loans. The lack of access thus seems to be more due to

Page 7 of 41
SMEs reluctance to access banks loans rather than general perception that banks deny loans
to smaller firms. The interest (Riba) was quoted by 78% of the SMEs that had not applied for
the bank loans as key reason for their reluctance to access the bank loans.

The period since 1st Bank Loans

82% of the SMEs obtained bank loans during 2001-08 and only 18% availed the loans prior
to 2000. This may be attributed to fast pace expansion of banks during the period and
increased SBP focus on broadening and deepening of the banking system to bring un-
banked/under-banked areas/sectors like SMEs in the fold of banking. Further 75% SMEs
availed short term running finance, 14.7% long term fixed investment loans and 10% export
finance under SBP export finance scheme.

No. of days consumed in obtaining loan

43% SMEs on average consumed 21-30 days in obtaining the bank loan, 21% consumed 31-
60 days and 14% more than 2 months. 17% also used the references for obtaining the loan
and 14% used undue considerations for obtaining the loans.

Key Issues
The energy shortages, high energy cost, the excessive government regulations, the hostile
taxation authorities, increasing competition from Chinese products that are cheap and
attractive in design although inferior in quality, the lack of technical and vocational training
facilities and poor roads and communications infrastructure were reported as the key issues
faced by the SMEs operating in Gujranwala district.
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008

METHODOLOGY

Questionnaire
The questionnaire designed to explore the SME sector in Gujranwala district had seven
sections viz. A-General, B-Manufacturing SMEs, C-Trading concerns, D-Accounting &
Record keeping, E-Access to Business Development Services, F-Access to Finance and G-
Key Issues/Challenges.

The first section sought information about the nature, type and size of SMEs, the educational
qualification, technical/professional training, work experience etc of proprietor/partner and
skill profiles of workers. The Section-B and C, was aimed at assessing the current position of
business, including size of enterprises, total assets, revenue and income streams and
expenses, nature of product etc. The Section-D tried to assess the Accounting and Record
keeping practices of SMEs and their willingness and capacity to maintain proper books of
accounts and prepare periodic financial statements. The awareness and access to the BDS
was assessed in Section-E which also tried to assess the demand for BDS and role of SMEDA
in improving the capacity of SMEs as well as facilitating their access to BDS. The Section-F
was aimed at assessing the SMEs access to financial services, the correlation between the
SME size/type and access to finance, the reasons for low access, the major sources of
finances for SMEs etc. The last section, a list of common and generally known issues faced
by the sector, was discussed with the respondents to know which of these issues were faced
by them.

Survey Teams
Two teams were constituted for the survey. Each team had two surveyors comprising an
intern and a Researcher of GCCI, R&D Cell. The Survey Teams were provided training for
about 10 days to conduct the survey. Detailed discussions were held on the questionnaire to
ensure clarity on each and every question. The training also included tips for effective
conduct of the survey, including the question asking and recording techniques.

Sample size and sampling criteria

A sample of About 300 SMEs spread across the entire district including was selected for the
survey. Considering the predominance of manufacturing SMEs in the district the sample was
skewed towards the manufacturing SMEs. 70% of the SMEs were manufacturing concern
and 30% trading concerns. To select the manufacturing SMEs, the directory of industrial
establishments Punjab 2006 that gives district-wise data of industrial and manufacturing
establishments in Punjab was used. Using the directory 30 major industrial clusters was
identified and 4 – 11 units from each of the 30 clusters were selected randomly to collect
their response on the survey questions. There were total 4682 units in these 30 clusters out of
which 210 units were selected. The sampling frame also contained 90 trading concerns
which were selected from the list provided by Gujranwala Chamber of Commerce and here
again the sample was selected random from the list.

Page 9 of 41
 Section -I: General Characteristics
SME Type
As explained in methodology section the sample was
skewed towards manufacturing concerns as the district is
a hub of manufacturing SMEs. Thus 70% or 210 units
covered in the survey were manufacturing concerns and
30% or 90 units were the trading concerns. The
annexure-I gives the total number of units in each of the
30 clusters covered in the survey.

Legal Type of SMEs

More than 68% of the SMEs covered by the survey were Table 1.2: Legal type of SMEs and SME Type
Manufacturing Trading Total
proprietorship concerns, about 27% were partnership Type
Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
concerns and 4% were corporate. While all the corporate Proprietorship 131 62.4 74 82.2 205 68.3
units were in manufacturing sector, a bulk of Partnership 66 31.4 16 17.8 82 27.3
Company 13 6.2 0 0.0 13 4.3
proprietorship concerns, 64%, was in manufacturing and Total 210 100 90 100 300 100
36% in trading. Similarly 80% of the partnership
concerns covered in the survey were manufacturing
concerns and remaining 20% trading concerns. Further Legal type of SMEs

100% 0
62.4 of the manufacturing units were proprietorship 80% 74
16

concerns compared to 82.2% of trading concerns; and 60%

Trading

Manufacturing
31% of manufacturing units were partnerships compared 40%
131
66
13

to 18% of trading units. 20%

0%
Proprietorship Partnership Company

Firm size – Based on Workers Engaged

Most of the firm (about 61%) covered in the survey Table-1.3: Type of SME
Manufacturing Trading
were small units, employing upto 10 No. of
Total
Employees Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
workers/employees, 22% had 11-25 workers, 9% 26-
1-10 100 48 84 93 184 61
50 workers and only 7% had more than 50 workers 11-25 62 30 5 6 67 22
(table 1.3). The trading concerns covered in the 26-50 27 13 1 1 28 9
51-100 9 4 - - 9 3
survey were predominately small as 93% of them 101-150 9 4 - - 9 3
had upto 10 workers, 6% had 11-25 workers and 151-250Total 210
3
100
1 - - 3
90 100 300 100
1

only 1% had more than 25 workers. The % of Total 70 30 100

manufacturing units covered in the survey though largely small, however were relatively
larger than the trading concerns. 48% of the manufacturing units had upto 10 workers, 30%
had 11-25 workers, 13% 26-50 workers and remaining 9% had more than 50 workers.
Table-1.4: Legal type of SME
The firm size and legal type-wise analysis (table 1.4) Proprietorship Partnership Company Total
No of Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
suggests that most of the proprietorship concerns employees
were small firms with 74% having upto 10 1-10 151 74 33 40 - - 184 61
11-25 41 20 23 28 3 23 67 22
employees, 20% having 11-25 employees and only 26-50 10 5 14 17 4 31 28 9
6% having more than 25 employees. The 51-100
101-150
2
0
1
-
4
6
5
7
3
3
23
23
9
9
3
3
partnership firm were however relatively larger in 151-250 1 - 2 2 - - 3 1
Total 205 100 82 100 13 100 300 100
size; 40% had upto 10 employees, 28% 11-25 % of Total 68.3 27.3 4.3 100.0
employees and 32% more than 25 employees. As
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
expected majority of the corporates were larger in size; 77% had over 25 employees while
46% had over 50 employees/workers1.

Owners’ Education Level and SME Type

The table 1.5 sheds some light on SME type and Table- 1.5: Education and SME type
Manufacturing Trading Total
educational qualification of proprietors/partners etc. Educational
Qualification
Freq % Freq % Freq %

4% of the SME units surveyed were owned by Illeterate 8 3.8 4 4.4 12 4.0
individuals with no education. 19% units had Primary
Middle
14
31
6.7
14.8
5
8
5.6
8.9
19 6.3
39 13.0
business heads having up to middle level education, Matric 48 22.9 27 30.0 75 25.0
Inter 48 22.9 30 33.3 78 26.0
25% had matriculate level education, 49% had inter Graduate 56 26.7 12 13.3 68 22.7
Masters 5 2.4 4 4.4 9 3.0
or graduate level qualification and only 3% were Total 210 100 90 100 300 100
headed by entrepreneurs having master level % of Total 70 30 100

qualification. Overall the manufacturing units had Table- 1.6: Education Vs. Legal type of SME
Educational Proprietorship Partnership Company Total
better qualified owners/partners than the trading Qualification Freq % Freq % Freq % Freq %

units. Illeterate 9 4.4 3 3.7 0 - 12 4.0

Primary 14 6.8 5 6.1 0 - 19 6.3
Middle 33 16.1 6 7.3 0 - 39 13.0
Further cross sectional analysis of the educational Matric 57 27.8 17 20.7 1 7.7 75 25.0
Inter 48 23.4 25 30.5 5 38.5 78 26.0
qualification and SME legal type shows that 27% of Graduate 39 19.0 23 28.0 6 46.2 68 22.7
Masters 5 2.4 3 3.7 1 7.7 9 3.0
the proprietorship concerns were headed by Total 205 100 82 100 13 100 300 100
individuals having below matric qualification % of Total 68.3 27.3 4.3 100

compared to about 17% of the partnership firm having partners/managers below matric.
Similarly 62% of the partnership firms had managers/partners with inter and above
qualification compared to 45% of the proprietorship. Overall the partnership firms had better
qualified owners/partners than the proprietorship firms. In corporates all but one company
had managers with intermediate and above qualification with more than 50% graduates and
above qualification.

SMEs and Technical Education

About 70% of the respondent SMEs were owned and run by individuals who did not obtain
any training, formal or informal for their business Table-1.7: Technical/Professional
Formal
Training
Informal No training Total
(Ustad- shagird)

(Table 1.7). The SME type-wise break-up of such No of

Employees
Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %

SMEs shows that 81% of trading and 65% of 1-10 11-25

10 76.9
2 15.4
61
10
78.2
12.8
113
55
54.1
26.3
184 61.3
67 22.3
manufacturing units‟ proprietors/owners had no 26-5051-100 1 7.7
2
1
2.6
1.3
26
7
12.4
3.3
28 9.3
9 3.0
formal or informal training to run and manage their 151-250
101-150 3
1
3.8
1.3
6
2
2.9
1.0
9 3.0
3 1.0
businesses/production units; only 4% had obtained Total
% of Total
13
4.3
100 78
26.0
100 209
69.7
100 300 100
100.0

formal training, mostly in manufacturing units. 26% Technical/Professional Training

of the SMEs‟ entrepreneurs had obtained informal 100%
90%
10 2 0
1
0 0

training from their mentors (Ustads); The SME type 80%

70% 6 2
113
60%
wise break up of informal training obtained shows 50%
55 26 7
40%
that 30% of manufacturing and 16% of trading units 30%
20%
61 3 1
were run by individuals who obtained informal 10%
0%
10
2 1

training. Further analysis of technical and 1-10

No.of Employees
11-25 26-50 51-100 101-150 151-250

professional training with the firm size shows that

the larger firms tend to have more trained entrepreneurs/businessmen than the smaller firms
(see Table 1.7 & graph).

1
The sample size of corporates however was very small (just 4 units) and thus the findings may not be
representative of all the corporates operating in the district.

Page 11 of 41
Mode of Entry into the Business
Table 1.8 shows the mode of the entrepreneurs‟ entry into Table 1.8: SME Type and Enter into the Business
the SME business. 64% of the respondent units were self Type
Manufacturing Trading Total
Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
starters i.e. the entrepreneurs themselves started the Self starter 127 60.5 64 71.1 191 63.7
business whereas 34% had inherited the business and a Inheritance 79 37.6 24 26.7 103 34.3
meager 2% had either acquired a running business or Joined/Acquisition 4 1.0 2 2.2 6 2.0
Total 210 100 90 100 300 100
joined an existing/operative units as partners. The SME % of Total 7.0 30.0 100.0
type wise analysis of entry into business shows that 60% SME Type & Entrance to Business

of manufacturing units were self starters compared to 71% 250

191
200
of the trading units; whereas 38% of manufacturing and Manufact
uring
150 127 Trading
27% of trading units were inherited by the existing 100 79
103
64 Total
owners. 50 24
4 2 6
0

Business Premises Ownership Self starter Inheritance Joined/Acquisition

74% of the SMEs had their own business premises whereas the remaining 26% were working
in the rented premises; the business premises ownership
was more prevalent in as 87% of them had their own Table- 1.9: Employee
Owned
Size & the Kind of Premises
Rented Total
No. of
premises compared to about 44% trading units that Employees Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %

owned their business premises. Further most of the 1-10 116 52.3 68 87.2 184 61.3

larger sized SMEs which were surveyed tend to own 11-25 26-50
59
26
26.6
11.7
8
2
10.3
2.6
67 22.3
28 9.3

their business premises than the smaller firms; 87% of 101-150

51-100 9
9
4.1
4.1
9
9
3.0
3.0
the SMEs operating in rented premises had upto 10 151-250
Total
3
222 100.0
1.4
78 100.0
3
300
1.0
100
workers/employees and 13% had 11-50 employees % of Total 74.0 26.0 100

(table 1.9).

The ownership of the business premises by majority (74%) of the SMEs is a healthy sign as
the premises could be leveraged to raise funds from banks and financial institutions to expand
the business.

Market Value of Owned Premises Table 1.10: Market Value of SME Premises

About 38% of the SMEs who owned their business Units %

% having
Own Premises

premises did not respond to the question about market Rs. 1 - 2.50 mn
2.51 - 5.0 mn
42
31
14.0
10.3
18.9
14.0
value of the premises. The average market value of the 10.1 - 20.0 mn.
5.01 - 10.0 mn 30
13
10.0
4.3
13.5
5.9
land\ buildings owned by the remaining 62% SMEs was 20.01 - 30.0 mn.
30.01 - 50.0 mn. 10
5 1.7
3.3
2.3
4.5
about Rs.12 million with the minimum & maximum of Sub Total
Over Rs. 50 mn.
137
6 2.0
45.7
2.7
61.7
Rs.0.2 million & 80 million. 8% had business premises Not responded
Rented Property
85
78
28.3
26.0 -
38.3

valuing up to Rs.1 million, 19% Rs. 1-2.5 million, 14% Total 300 100 100.0

Rs.2.5-5 million, another 14% Rs. 5-10 million, 15.4% more than Rs.10 million (see table
1.10 for details).
Table 1.11: Monthly Rent of Premises

Average Monthly Rent Rent in Rupees Units Percent

1-5000 27 9.0
The 26% of the respondent SMEs operating in rented 5001 - 10000 24 8.0
premises were on average paying a monthly rent of Rs. 10001 - 15000 11 3.7
9,325/- with minimum and maximum of Rs. 550/- and 15001 - 20000 2 0.7

Rs. 61,000/- p.m. 65% of the SMEs operating in rented More than 20,000 5 1.7
Not responded 9 3.0
premises were small units paying monthly rent of upto Owned 222 74
Rs. 10,000/-, 23% were paying monthly rent of more Total 300 100
than Rs. 10,000/- ; 12% however did not disclose the rent they were paying.
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008

Section – II: Manufacturing SMEs

Size
The manufacturing SMEs though relatively larger in size
Table-2.1: Size of Manufacturing
than trading units are predominantly small units SMEs by No. of Employees
No. of
employing on average 26 workers with the minimum & Employees
Freq. %

maximum 1 & 250 workers. Only 03 SMEs covered in 1-10 100 48

11-25 62 30
the survey had more than 200 employees. About 23% of 26-50 27 13
the manufacturing units had up to 5 employees, 48% had 51-100 9 4
101-150 9 4
upto 10 employees and 78% had upto 25 151-250 3 1
employees/workers; only 22% of the manufacturing units Total 210 100

had more than 25 employees.

Table- 2.2: HR Composition of Manufacturing SMEs
No. of %
HR Composition Employees
The manufacturing units covered by the survey had 5,396 Unskilled 1511 28.0
workers, of which 52% were skilled, 20% semi skilled Semi-Skilled 1063 20.0
and 28% were unskilled. The cluster wise composition of Skilled 2822 52.0
Total 5396 100
human resource is given in the table at Annexure 11. The HR Composition of Mfg. SMEs %
60 52.0
Furnace steel industry had on average maximum number 50
40
of 93 workers per firm whereas foundry industry had on 30
28.0
20.0
Unskilled
Semi-Skilled
20
average minimum number of 5 workers per firm. 10 Skilled
0
Unskilled Semi-Skilled Skilled

Major Products Produced

The manufacturing units operating in Gujranwala district Table-2.3: Nature of Product
Intermediate Final/Finished Total
No. of
are producing a variety of products which are in good Employess Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %

demand not only within country but also in international 1-10

11-25
25
6
62.5
15
75
56
44.1
33
100
62
48
30

markets and earning valuable foreign exchange for the 26-50

51-100
3
3
8
8
24
6
14
4
27
9
13
4
country. The major products produced in the district 101-150
151-250
2
1
5
3
7
2
4
1
9
3
4
1
include ceramics and sanitary fittings, electronic goods, Total
% of Total
40
19.0
100 170
81.0
100 210 100
100.0

fans, air coolers, motor pumps, agri-implements, auto Product : % of Total

parts, cutlery, Utensils, Grey cloth, silk, shawls etc. 100.0
Cluster wise list of products being produced by the 80.0
60.0
manufacturing units covered in the survey is given at 40.0
20.0
Annexure III. Further a large majority (81%) of the firms 0.0
Intermediate Final/Finished
is producing final/ finished goods and 19% are producing
intermediate goods and. (table 2.2)

Sale Destinations
The goods produced in Gujranwala are in good demand within the District, across the country
and in export markets (table 2.4). 15% of the units sell Table 2.4: Sale Destination
their produce within the district; most of such units are Sale Places
Same District
Frequency
30
Percent
14.3
very small having upto 10 workers, 22% of the units are Same Province 46 21.9

selling their production across the Punjab province, 43% Across country
Specific Customer
91
7
43.3
3.3
across the country and 15% serving both export and local Exporting 6 2.9

markets. 3% SMEs are exporting all their production. Export market

and domestic
30 14.3
There is a strong correlation between the firm size and Total 210 100

exports; the larger firms tend to have more inclination towards exports than the smaller firms.
Similarly the firms larger in size are having larger geographic boundaries for sale of their
products i.e. the larger firms have better tendency to serve markets outside the district as well

Page 13 of 41
as outside the province. Further most of the firms are having country wide market which is
encouraging given the predominantly smaller nature of firms and is indicative of their
capacity to have linkage and connectivity with the markets across the country.

Sales Mode
About 47% of the units sell their products both on cash and Table 2.4 A: Sale Mode (Mutually exclusive options)
credit, 18% on cash only and 32% on credit only. 3% Sale Cash
Mode Frequency Percent
38 18.1
manufacturing units display their items on showroom/shops etc Credit 68 32.4
and receive payments only after sale of their products (table Cash and Credit 98 46.7
2.4A). The sale mode is thus largely skewed towards cash & Payment received on Sale 6 2.9
Total 210 100
credit combination which is normally the case for products in
good demand. The products with relatively weaker demand are usually placed on display and
payments are only received on sale of the products to the end consumer.

Payment Receipt Composition

The business transactions among manufacturing SMEs are settled through cheque, cash,
Parchi etc. on average about 41% of the payments and Table-2.5: Manufacturing SMEs Payment Recepit Compostion (Cheque %)
CashO nly 10% Checque11-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100% Total
receipts are made through cheques, 52% through cash No of Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
and 7% through other instruments like Parchi, Hawala employees
etc. With a large majority of the units covered in the 1-10
11-25
26 56.5 5 41.7 13 46.4 22 42.3 20 55.6 14 38.9 100
11 23.9 5 41.7 13 46.4 17 32.7 7 19.4 9 25.0 62
survey being small, the finding that about 41% 26-50 6 13.0 1 8.3 1 3.6 9 17.3 6 16.7 4 11.1 27
payments/receipts are being made through cheques is 51-100 1 2.2 1 3.6 2 3.8 5 13.9 9
101-150 2 4.3 1 8.3 1 1.9 2 5.6 3 8.3 9
encouraging and is indicative of improving 151-250 1 1.9 1 2.8 1 2.8 3
acceptability of cheque as a payment instrument Total 46 100 12 100 28 100 52 100 36 100 36 100 210
among the small units. % of Total 21.9 5.71 13.3 24.8 17.1 17.1 100

Basic Raw Material Sources

59% of the units covered in the survey had basic raw Table 2.6: Availability of Basic Raw Marterial
material available within Gujranwala district and for Units Percent
another 16% from within Punjab province. 10% of Same District 124 59.1
the firms procure their basic raw material from across Same Province (Punjab) 34 16.2
Same Province and Other Province 22 10.5
the country; about 13% use both local and imported
Imported 3 1.4
raw material and 1% use only imported raw material. Local & imported 27 12.9
The availability of basic raw material in the same Total 210 100
district for most of the firms is a major strength of the
manufacturing SMEs of the district which coupled with the entrepreneurial mindset of the
business community of the area has been instrumental in growth of the manufacturing units in
the district and surrounding areas.

Cost Structures
The raw material cost, labor charges, gas and Table 2.7: Cost Structure of SME Clusters (% of total cost)
Industry
electricity charges, admin/operating expenses and Description Maximum Minimum
average
financial charges are the major constituents of Raw Material Cost 61.96 77.5 30.71
manufacturing SMEs cost structure. The raw material Labor cost 14.18 30 5.67
cost constitutes the bulk of the total cost; on average Gas/Electricity 16.89 43.57 6.5
Financial charges 3.96 10 2
the manufacturing SMEs covered in the survey Admin/Operating 6.6 13.33 1
incurred 62% of their total cost on raw material
procurement with minimum of 31% for pottery and maximum of 78% for nuts and bolts
sector. The Industry average for labor cost is 14.18% with maximum of 30% in light
engineering cluster and minimum of 5.67% in furnace steel cluster. The second highest
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
component in the SMEs cost structure is the
Cost Structure of SME Clusters (% of total cost)
energy (gas and electricity) cost which constitutes
80 Industry average
16.89% of total cost with maximum of 43.57% in 70
60
Pottery cluster and minimum of 6.5% in nuts and 50
Maximum

bolts cluster. The higher energy cost in pottery is 40

Percent
Minimum
30

attributable to massive use of gas in pottery sector. 20

10
Financial charges on average constitute 4% of the 0

total cost structure of the SMEs with minimum

and maximum of 2% and 10% respectively.
Industry average of admin/operating expense is
6.6% of total cost. Gas Appliances cluster has the highest admin/manufacturing expenses &
that is 13.33% of total cost.

The cluster wise cost structure given at Annexure-IV sheds some light on the nature of
various industrial clusters. For instances light engineering is labor intensive cluster with labor
cost up to 30% of total cost. Hosiery is also labor intensive with labor charges constituting
more than 1/5th of total cost. Pottery, wires and cable, and woolen textiles are energy
intensive and consume huge amount of gas and electricity.

Average Credit Collection Period Table-2.8: Average Credit Collection Period in Days (Manufacturing Concerns)
The credit collection period2 analysis of No. of
Only Cash 15 days 30 days 60 days 90 days & more Total

manufacturing units covered in the survey shows Employees Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq.

that about 19% of the manufacturing units on 1-10 18 60.0 15 38.5 31 56.4 18 60.0 28 34.48276 100
average collect all their credits within 15 days of the 11-25 8 26.7 14 35.9 11 20.0 6 20.0 35 41.37931 62
26-50 3 10.0 3 7.7 9 16.4 4 13.3 12 13.7931 27
sale and another about 26% within 16-30 days. 51-100 4 10.3 3 5.5 2 3.448276 9
15% of the firms recover all outstanding credit 101-150 1 3.3 3 7.7 1 1.8 2 6.7 2 9
151-250 4 6.896552 3
within 31-60 days; about 27% of the firms however Total 30 100 39 100 55 100 30 100 83 100 210
take 90 days or more in collection and recovery of % of Total 14.29 18.57 26.19 14.29 39.52 100
the credit.

There seems to be positive correlation, though weak, between firm size and collection period.
The credit collection period of the smaller firms tends to be shorter than the larger firms. For
instance 46% firms having upto 10 workers were collecting their credit within 30 days
compared to 40% of the firm having 11-25 employees.

Sales Growth Table-2.9: Estamited Sales Growth during last 3 years

About 59 % of the manufacturing units Upto 25% 26-50% 51-100% Over 100% -ve Growth No Growth Total
opined that they registered no or negative No. of
Employees Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
growth in sales during past three years
with 34% claiming to have experienced 1-10 31 48 1 9.1 2 33 44 62 22 41 100 48
negative growth. The remaining 41% 11-25 20 31 2 18 1 17 19 27 20 37 62 30
however registered positive growth 26-50 9 14 5 45 1 17 1 33.3 5 7 6 11 27 13
51-100 3 4.6 3 27 1 17 2 3.7 9 4.3
ranging from 25% to over 100%. 31% of
101-150 1 1.5 1 17 2 66.7 3 4.2 2 3.7 9 4.3
the units registered upto 25% growth, 5% 151-250 1 1.5 2 3.7 3 1.4
units grew by 26-50%, 3% by 51-100% Total 65 100 11 100 6 100 3 100 71 100 54 100 210 100
and only 1% by more than 100%. These % of Total 31.0 5.2 2.9 1.4 33.8 25.7 100
* Based on respondents' perception of growth which might have some element of bias.

2
Based on response of the SME

Page 15 of 41
growth figures are however based on the response of the SME and not based on the review of
the SMEs books of accounts and financial statements and thus might have some perception
biases. There is a tendency amongst the business community to understate their profits and
sales etc due to deeply ingrained fears of taxation departments.

The cluster wise sales growth, given in annexure V, analysis during last 3 years shows that 15
of the 30 key clusters covered in the survey registered positive growth, 9 booked negative
growth and 6 clusters registered no growth. The industrials clusters that registered positive
growth included Marble, Utensils, sanitary fittings, furnace steel, and ceramics. The major
clusters that responded negative growth in sales during last 3 years were Hosiery, Power
looms, and Foundry. The annexure-II gives cluster-wise growth trends during last 3 years;
however as the cluster wise sample size is very small 4-11 units only, the cluster-wise growth
trends thus may not be representative of the whole cluster.

Educational Qualification and Sales

The educational qualification of Table-2.10: Education and Estamited Sales Growth during last 3 years
proprietor, partners etc does seem to have 25% 26-50% 51-100% Over 100% Negative Growth No Growth
some association with the growth levels Educational Total
Qualification Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
of the SMEs; the growth performance of
educated entrepreneur was relatively Illeterate 0 0 1 16.7 0 5 7.0 2 3.7 8
better than the entrepreneur with no or Primary 4 6.2 1 9.1 0 0 7 9.9 2 3.7 14
Middle 9 13.8 0 0 0 16 22.5 6 11.1 31
lesser education. For instance all but one Matric
17 24.6 1 9.1 1 16.7 1 33.3 15 21.1 14 25.9 48
SME headed by businessmen with no Inter 22 33.8 0 3 50.0 2 66.7 12 16.9 11 16.7 48
education registered negative growth. Graduate 13 20.0 8 72.7 1 16.7 0 15 21.1 19 35.2 56
Similarly 30% of the SMEs with owners Masters 1 1.5 1 9.1 0 0 1 1.4 2 3.7 5
having upto middle level education Total 66 100 11 100 6 100 3 100 71 100 56 100 210
registered positive growth compared to 45% of the SMEs headed by entrepreneurs with
Matric and Inter level qualification. This trend however could not continue for SMEs owned
by businessmen with graduation and above qualification as 39% of such SMEs registered
positive growth compared to 45% SMEs with Matric and Inter level owners. The overall
analysis suggests that businessmen with Matric and inter are more successfully running their
business followed by the graduates & above. However as cautioned earlier these growth
trends are based on the opinion and responses of the SMEs‟ heads/owners and thus might
have biases.
Mode of Entry into Business vs. Sales Growth
100%
Growth and Business Entry Mode 90%
0 0
1
0 3 0
Joined/Acq.
21
The analysis of estimated growth achieved with 80%
70% 7
24 24
Inheritance

the mode of entry into the business suggests that 60%

50%
3
3
Self Starter

the self starter as a whole achieved better growth 40%

30%
44 44
30

performance than those who inherited or acquired 20%

10%
4 2

the running businesses; 62% of the SMEs that 0%

Upto 25 % 26-50% 51-100% Over 100% Negative No Growth
registered positive growth were self starter Growth

whereas about 36% had inherited the business.

Table-2.11: Optimistic about Future Growth
Optimistic about future Growth No Yes Total
High energy costs, frequent power outages, No of Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
employees
rising raw material prices, high inflation and 1-10 46 48.42 54 46.96 100
uncertain economic & political situation has 11-25 31 32.63 31 26.96 62
26-50 12 12.63 15 13.04 27
eroded the confidence of business community 51-100 2 2.105 7 6.087 9
and given rise to pessimism about future 101-150 3 3.158 6 5.217 9
151-250 1 1.053 2 1.739 3
Total 95 100 115 100 210
% of Total 45.2 54.8 100
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
growth prospects. However despite all this pessimism about 55% of the SMEs were
optimistic and hopeful about future growth prospects. The remaining 45% however
expressed their pessimism about growth and turnaround in their industrial clusters.

Investment in Plant & Machinery Table-2.11A: Major Investment in palnt & machnry in last 5 yrs (Rs)
62% manufacturing SMEs did not make any No Investment upto 0.25 mn upto 0.50 mn upto 1.0 mn. Over 1.0 mn.
Total

major investment in plant and machinery No of

Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
Employees
during last 5 years. The remaining 38% 1-10 73 55.7 12 70.6 2 15.4 5 62.5 8 19.5 27
however invested Rs. 250,000/- to over Rs.1 11-25 38 29.0 3 17.6 5 38.5 2 25.0 14 34.1 24
26-50 13 9.9 2 11.8 3 23.1 1 12.5 8 19.5 14
million to improve their plant and machinery 51-100 4 3.1 0 1 7.7 0 4 9.8 5
during last 5 years. Encouragingly bulk of 101-150 1 0.8 0 2 15.4 0 6 14.6 8
151-250 2 1.5 0 0 0 1 2.4 1
SMEs that invested in plant & machinery Total 131 100 17 100 13 100 8 100 41 100 79
invested more than Rs. 1 million. Interestingly % of Total - 21.5 16.5 10.1 51.9 100

82% of the manufacturing units that made

investment in plant and machinery during last Table- 2.12: Major Investment in Plant & Machinery during last 5 years (in Rs)
No Investment upto 0.25 mn. 0.25 0.50 mn 0.50-1.0 mn Over 1.0 mn Investing total
5 years were small firms having upto 50 Educational
Column Column Column Column Column Column
Qualification Freq. Freq. Freq. Freq. Freq. Freq.
workers. % % % % % %
Illeterate 7 5.3 0 1 2.4 1 1.3
Primary 11 8.4 2 11.8 1 7.7 3 3.8
Owners’ Education and Investment in Plant Middle 2 11.8 24 18.3 1 7.7 4 9.8 7 8.9
Matric 8 47.1 30 22.9 0 3 37.5 7 17.1 18 22.8
The educational qualification of entrepreneurs Inter 3 17.6 28 21.4 5 38.5 3 37.5 9 22.0 20 25.3
have positive correlation with the investments Graduate 2 11.8 29 22.1 5 38.5 2 25.0 18 43.9 27 34.2
Masters 2 1.5 1 7.7 2 4.9 3 3.8
in plants and machinery as the entrepreneurs Total 17 100.0131 100.0 13 100.0 8 100.0 41 100.0 79 100.0
with better qualification invested more in plant % of Total21.5 16.5 10.1 51.9 100.0

and machinery than the entrepreneurs with no or lesser education.

Plans for investment in Plant & Machinery

54% of the manufacturing units have no plans to
invest in machinery and other fixed assets in future; Plan for further Investment
this however include % SMEs that made
investments in their plant and machinery during last
5 years and thus they don‟t foresee any further 46% No

investment in the plant and machinery in near 54% Yes

future. The SMEs that did not make any investment
in the plant and machinery during last 5 years and
have no plans to invest in machinery in future seems
to be disappointed with their existing and future Table-2.13: Plans for Future Investment in
business prospects due to internal weaknesses in Machinery & Fixed Assets
their units and hostile external environment, No Yes Total
particularly political instability and uncertainty that No of Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
has gripped the country for last about one and half Employees
1-10 47 41.6 53 54.6 100
year. Interestingly the smaller firms are relatively 11-25 40 35.4 22 22.7 62
more optimistic about future and have plans to 26-50 16 14.2 11 11.3 27
51-100 6 5.3 3 3.1 9
invest in plant and machinery than the larger firms.
101-150 2 1.8 7 7.2 9
For instance 53% of the firms having upto 10 151-250 2 1.8 1 1.0 3
workers would like to improve their existing plant Total 113 100 97 100 210
and machinery compared to about 36% for firms % of Total 53.8 46.2 100

employing 11-25 workers and 41% of the firms having 26-50 workers. This trend however is
not true for large SMEs having more than 100 workers as 67% of SMEs have plans to invest
further in the plant and machinery. The sample size for this category of SMEs however is too

Page 17 of 41
small (just 12 SMEs out of 210). Further 79% of the SMEs that have plans to invest in plants
and machinery are small firms having upto 50 workers.

Financing of the Investment Plans

55% of the SMEs with plans to invest in plant and Table-2.14: If yes, How to Finance Investment Plans? Total
machinery would finance the investment through No of No Plan Bank loan Savings
Freq. % Freq. %
Bank+Savings
Freq. % Freq. %
Savings+Family
Freq. % Freq.
personal savings, 17% through bank loans, 9% Employees
through personal savings and loans from friends & 1-10 11-25
46 41.8 12 70.6 28 50.9
39 35.5 1 5.9 19 34.5
10 52.6
1 5.3
4 50.0 100
2 25.0 62
family and 19% through a mix of personal savings 26-50 15 13.6 2 11.8 5 9.1 3 15.8 2 12.5 27
51-100 6 5.5 1 5.9 1 5.3 1 12.5 9
and bank loans. Thus a large majority does not 101-150 2 1.8 1 5.9 3 5.5 3 15.8 9
seem to be interested in accessing bank loans to 151-250
Total
2 1.8
110 100 17 100 55 100
1 5.3
19 100 9 100 210
3

finance the future investment plans. Interestingly a % of Total 52.4 8.1 26.2 9.0 4.3 100
% Plans - with17.0 55.0 19.0 9.0
large majority (61%) of those interested in
accessing bank loans for the purpose are small enterprises having upto 10 employees; the
sample size of those interested in accessing the bank loans, however is very small (just 17)
and thus the ratio needs to be interpreted cautiously.

Own Power Generation Arrangement

62% of the
Own Power Generation No
manufacturing units Yes
Yes
covered by the survey 38%

did not have their own

power generation
No
arrangements and thus 62%

had to shut their

operations during the power outages. The load
Table-2.15: Poduction Time Lost due to Load Shedding- Hrs/week
shedding and frequent power failures have <= 0 1 - 15 16 - 30 Over 30 Hrs Total
severely affected the production levels with No of Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
Employees
most of units facing production time losses of
24 hours or more per week; on average the 1-10 1 25 7 63.6 58 52.73 34 33.3 100
11-25 3 75 3 27.3 29 26.36 27 38.9 62
units experienced production time losses 33 26-50 1 9.09 14 12.73 12 19.4 27
hours per week. Further 93% of the 51-100 5 4.545 4 2.78 9
manufacturing units reported production time 101-150 4 3.636 5 2.78 9
151-250 3 2.78 3
losses of 16 hours or more per week and 40% Total 4 100 11 100 110 100 85 100 210
reported the losses of 30 hours or more. % of total 1.9 5.238 52.4 40.48 100

Although the larger and medium sized firms have better capacity to sustain such shocks,
however the survey suggests that the energy crisis has severely affected both the smaller and
larger units across the board (table 2.15).
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008

Section – III: Trading SMEs

Firm Size – based on Total Assets Table-3.1: Total Assets (Excluding Land & Building) (in Rs.) - Trading SMEs
While 29% of the trading SMEs covered in the No Response Upto 0.5 mn. 0.5-1.0 mn. 1.0-5.0 mn. Over 5.0 mn. Total
survey did not respond to the question regarding No. of
total assets, a bulk of the SMEs (34%) had total Employees Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
assets (excluding land and building) of upto Rs. 1-10 24 92.308 30 96.8 15 100 12 100 3 50 84
500,000/-, 17% had assets valuing Rs. 0.5 11-25 2 7.6923 1 3.2 2 33.33 5
million to Rs. 1 million. Only 20% had total 26-50 1 16.67 1
assets in excess of Rs. 1.0 million (with 7% Total 26 100 31 100 15 100 12 100 6 100 90
having assets value of over Rs. 5.0 million) % of Total 28.9 34.4 16.7 13.3 6.7 100
which is indicative of predominantly small
nature of the trading SMEs. Trading SMEs by Employees Size

1%
1-10
6% 11-25
26-50

Firm Size – based on Number of Employees

The trading units covered in the survey were
predominantly small based on the number of
employees as well; 93% of the units had upto 10 93%

employees/workers, 6% had 11-25 workers and

only 1% had 26-50 workers. Average Monthly Sales (in Rs)- Trading SMEs Frequency #

70
62

Firm Size – based on Sales 60

50
69% of the trading concerns had monthly sales 40

of upto Rs. 0.5 million, 17% Rs. 0.5–Rs.1.0 30

20 15

million and 12% had monthly sale of more than 10

2 4 4 3
0
Rs. 1 million.

Sale Composition (Credit vs Cash)

Table 3.2: Credit Sales Ratio Vs. Avg Monthly Sales
The survey suggests that 12% trading units sell only Credit Sales Up to 0.50-1.0 Over Rs. Total %
on cash basis, 21% make upto 20% of the sales on %
0 (Cash)
Rs.0.50 m mn.
6 1
1.0 mn
3 11 12.2
credit, 33% units have credit sales of 21–50% and 1-10 % 7 4 1 12 13.3
11-20 6 1 0 7 7.8
remaining about 33% have more than 50% of their 21-30 8 0 1 9 10.0
sales on credit. 31-40 1 1 0 2 2.2
41-50 16 3 0 19 21.1
Over 50% 18 5 6 30 33.3
Total 62 15 11 90 100
Average Credit Collection Period % of Total 68.9 16.7 12.2 100
35% of the trading units engaged in credit sales
40
recover the outstanding credits on average within 15 35 Avg. Collection Period in
days of the sale and about 79% recover/collect the 30 25
Days

credit within 30 days, about 9% in 31- 60 days and 20

15
12% in 90 days and more. The analysis of credit 10
collection period with the firm size suggests that 50
smaller firms have relatively shorter credit collections Cash 07 days 15 days 30 days 60 days 90 days &
more
period them the larger firms. The smaller trading
firms generally deal in cash or fewer days‟ credit than the larger firms due their limited
capacity to finance the longer duration receivables.

Page 19 of 41
Payment Receipt Composition
About 38% trading SMEs make and receive payments Payment Receipt by Checques
only in cash whereas 4% make receive almost all Valid 90
payments through cheques. 13% trading firms use Mean 1,486,189
cheques for upto 10% of the payments and receipt, Median 42,500
29% have cheque usage for 21-50% of the Minimum 5000
payments/receipts whereas about 16% of the firms Maximum 30,000,000
make/receive 60-90% of their payments through Payment Receipt Ratio (by Cheques)
cheques. The excessive use of cash for payments/ 40
35
34

receipts is attributable to predominantly smaller size 30

25
of the trading units and the nature of their 20
13 13 14
operations; most of the sales are over the counter 15
10
12

that are normally made in cash. 5

0
4

Cash only upto 10% 20-30 40-50 60-90 100%

Cheque %

The Average Account Receivable Table 3.3: Average Accounts Receivable

The average account receivables of the trading units (in Rs) Freq. %
were 1.486 million with minimum & maximum of 0 5 5.6
Rs 5,000 & 30 million. About 69% SMEs had 1 – 200,000 62 68.9
200,001 – 400,000 8 8.9
receivables of up to Rs.0.2 m, 9% Rs. 0.2 – 0.4 400,001–1,000,000 6 6.7
million, 9% Rs.0.4-1 million and about 10% SMEs Over Rs. 1,000,000 9 10.0
had receivables of more than 1 million. Total 90 100

The Average Account payable Table 3.4: The Avg Account Payable
The Average Account Payables of the trading (in Rs.) Freq. Percent
0 2 2.2
SMEs covered in the survey was Rs.0.891 million 1 – 100,000 50 55.6
with the minimum & maximum of Rs. 10,000/- and 100,001 – 200,000 14 15.6
30 million; only one SME has payables of 30 200,001 – 300,000 6 6.7
300,001 – 500,000 6 6.7
million; about 56% of SMEs have payables of upto Over Rs. 500,000 12 13.3
Rs. 0.1 million, 16% Rs.0.1 – 0.2 million, and the Total 90 100
remaining about 27% had payables of more than
Rs. 0.2 million.
Procurement Composition

Procurement Composition (Cash vs Credit) 35

30
31
27
30% of the respondent SMEs were having all their 25

procurement on cash basis and only 2% on credit 20

17
15 13
only basis. About 19% had upto 20% of the 10

procurements on credit, 34% had 25-50% 5

2
0

procurement on credit and the remaining 14% were 0% (Cash) up to 20 25-50

cheque %
51-90 100

having 60-90% of procurements on credit.

 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008

Section – IV: Accounting & Record Keeping

Formal Books of Accounts Table 4.1: Maintain Formal Books of Account
74% of the SMEs of Gujranwala district does not Manufacturing Trading Total
Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
maintain formal books of accounts; the practice is more No 149 71.0 72 80.0 221 73.7
common in trading SMEs 80% of whom do not Yes 61 29.0 18 20.0 79 26.3
Total 210 100 90 100 300 100
maintain formal accounting books compared to 71% % of Total 70.0 30.0 100
manufacturing units that don‟t maintain the formal
books of accounts. As expected the firm size and the Maintenance of Formal Books of Accounts

maintenance of books of accounts are strongly 100%

29
22 3
80%
associated; the larger firms have greater tendency of 60%
15

8
2
Yes
maintaining formal books of accounts compared to the 40%
155
45 6 No
13
smaller firms. For instance 84% of the firms having 20%
1
1

0%
upto 10 workers were not maintaining the formal books 1-10 11-25 26-50 51-100 101-
150
151-
250
No. of Employees
of accounts compared to 46% of the firms having 26-50
employees.
Formal Books of Accounts and Owners’ Education
There is a strong correlation between entrepreneurs‟ Table-4.2: Maintain Formal Books of Account
educational qualification and maintenance of books of Educational
No Yes

accounts (table 4.2); the SMEs headed by educated Qualification Freq. % Freq. %

Illeterate 11 5.0 1 1.3

entrepreneurs have greater tendency to maintain Primary 18 8.1 1 1.3
books of accounts than the SMEs run by Middle
Matric
36
59
16.3
26.7
3
16
3.8
19.2
entrepreneurs with no or lesser education. 94% of the Inter 57 25.8 21 26.9
Graduate 37 16.7 31 39.7
SMEs maintaining formal books of accounts were run Masters 3 1.4 6 7.7
Total 221 100 79 100
by individual with Matric and above qualification and % of Total 73.67 26.33
47% of them had owners/ managers with graduate and
above qualification.
Periodicity of preparing Financial stements (# & %)
Periodicity of Financial Statements 100%
90% 5
1

42% of the SMEs maintaining formal books of 80%

70% 10
2
Tra ding

accounts prepare the income statement and balance 60%

Ma nufacturing
50% 32
sheet on annual basis followed by 32% and 22% that 40% 20
30%
prepare the statements on monthly and quarterly basis 20% 7
2

respectively. 10%
0%
Monthly Quarterly Half year Annually

Specialized Accountants Table- 4.3: How the Books of Accounts are Maintained?
About 65% of SMEs maintaining Manufacturing Trading Concern Total Total
formal books of accounts had Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % %
Don‟t maintain 15 7.1 17 18.9 32 100 10.7
specialized Accountants for Sub Total 15 7.1 17 18.9 32 100 10.7
maintaining the books whereas the Formal Books by:
proprietors/partners of remaining Specialized Accountant 45 21.4 6 6.7 51 64.6 17.0
Proprietor himself 16 7.6 12 13.3 28 35.4 9.3
the 35% SMEs were themselves Sub Total 61 29.0 18 20.0 79 100 26.3
maintaining the formal books of Informal books by:
accounts. Similarly for 47% of the Munshi 22 10.5 1 1.1 23 12.2 7.7
SMEs having informal books of Proprietor himself 75 35.7 14 15.6 89 47.1 29.7
Lawyer for taxation 37 17.6 40 44.4 77 40.74 25.7
account (Day book/Payment and Sub Total 134 63.8 55 61.11 189 100 63.0
Receipts book), the Total 210 100 90 100 300 300 100
proprietorship/partners were themselves maintaining the books; about 12% had hired Munshi
for the purpose. 41% of SMEs maintaining informal books also hire tax lawyers for

Page 21 of 41
preparation of the tax returns and the accounting books. Interestingly 10% of the SMEs
denied maintaining and having any books of accounts, formal or informal. While this may be
true for very small SMEs, there are chances that the entrepreneur deliberately denied to have
any books due to apprehensions about disclosure of the information to tax authorities.

Accounting Training
None of the SMEs that are keeping informal Table 4.4: If Formal Books Maintained, then any
accounting books received any accounting training Accounting training from SMEDA etc.?
Manufacturing Trading Total
from SMEDA or other training institutes. 9% of the
Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
SMEs maintaining formal books of accounts however No 55 90.2 17 94.5 72 91.1
received accounting and book keeping training from Yes 6 9.8 1 5.6 7 8.9
SMEDA. The remaining 91% of the SMEs Total 61 100 18 100 79 100
maintaining formal books have either specialized accountants for the purpose or the
proprietorship/partners had the sufficient understanding to keep and maintain the books by
themselves.

Periodic Assessment of Income

73% of the SMEs not maintaining the formal books 100%
Ability to Access Periodical Income
Tra ding
of accounts make periodical assessment of income 80% 31
59

based on the informal books and record they are Ma nufactu

60% ring
maintaining. The remaining 27% however have no
idea of their income or losses. While this may be true 40%
51
159

for some SMEs, it may also be due to manipulated or 20%

biased response of the SMEs due to apprehensions of 0%

disclosure of tax authorities. No Yes

Party-wise Accounts Payable and Receivable

100% of the SMEs having formal books of Table 4.5: Maintain Party-wise Records of Accounts
accounts and an overwhelming majority of SMEs Manufacturing Trading Total
Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
maintaining informal books maintain party wise
No 13 6.2 10 11.1 23 7.7
records of accounts payables & receivables. Yes 197 93.8 80 88.9 277 92.3
Overall more than 92% SMEs has a practice of Total 210 100 90 100 300 100
maintaining the party-wise record of accounts payables and receivables. The practice is more
common in manufacturing units where 94% units maintain this record as compared to 89% in
the trading concerns.
Records Periodic withdrawals for Expenses
Periodic Withdrawals for Personal Use 100%
90%
22 68
80%
73% SMEs records the periodic withdrawals to 70%
Tra ding
meet the personal expenses while the rest don‟t 60%
50%
40% Ma nufacturin
maintaining any record of the withdrawals made 30%
58 152
g
20%
for personal use. 10%
0%
No Yes

Free Accounting training

68% SMEs would not like to attend training program on accounting and maintenance of
books of accounts even if provided free of cost; Table-4.6: Willing to attend free training on
only 32% expressed their willingness to attend maintaining the day book etc?
Manufacturing Trading Total
such program. The response may be due to lack of Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
belief in the utility of such programs, limited No 139 66.19 66 73.3 205 68.3
awareness about the importance of maintaining Yes 71 33.81 24 26.7 95 31.7
books of accounts due to predominantly small and Total 210 100 90 100 300 100
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
informal nature of the SMEs operating in the District and apprehensions that maintenance of
formal books would attract tax liabilities etc.

Use of Personal Computer

46% firms have personal computers whereas the 100%
Firm has personal computer?
remaining 54% are operating without computers. 80% 56
34
Trading
Almost 50% of the manufacturing units have the 60%
Manufactur
Personal Computers compared to about 38% of the 40%
106
104 ing

trading units. Further about 57% of the firms that 20%

have computers are using them for maintaining the 0%

No Yes
books of accounts and remaining 43% use the
computers for letter writing/email/internet etc. 65% of Table 4.7: PC Usage for Books Maintenance
SME type
the firms that are using computers for maintaining Manufacturing Trading
Total

books of accounts have purchased/developed their Freq % Freq % Freq %

No 43 41.4 16 47.06 59 42.75
own Accounting software whereas the remaining 35% Yes 61 58.6 18 52.94 79 57.25

are using Excel etc for maintaining the accounting Total 104 100 34 100 138 100

records.

Awareness about SMEDA Accounting Package

95% SMEs have no information about the accounting 100%
Awareness about Accounting Package

software developed by SMEDA and being given to 80%

84
6
Trading

SMEs free of cost. Only 20% SMEs expressed their 60%

Manufacturing

willingness to acquire the SMEDA accounting 40%

202

package/software. As discussed earlier SMEs don‟t 20%

8

even know about the existence of SMEDA which 0%

No Yes
emphasize the need for change in SMEDA policy to
create awareness about its services and facilities for
SMEs. The SMEDA business model to expect the Table-4.8: Acquired or willing to acquire the software?
Manufacturing Trading Total
SMEs to visit is offices for availing its services has
Freq. % Freq. % Freq. %
seemingly not been able to attract a large majority of No 168 80 72 80 240 80
SMEs and thus some adjustments in the business Yes 42 20 18 20 60 20
would probably be needed to improve its presence Total 210 100 90 100 300 100
amongst the SMEs.

Page 23 of 41
Section – V: Business Development Services
Awareness about BDS
91% SMEs have no awareness about the Business
Table-5.1: Awarness about BDS by SMEDA/others
Development Services (BDS) with almost all the No Yes Total
No. of
smaller firms having no information about the Employess Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
BDS. Even a good number of relatively larger 1-10 178 65.4 6 21.4 184
sized SMEs have no awareness about BDS being 11-25 26-50
56 20.6
23 8.5
11 39.3
5 17.9
67
28
extended by SMEDA or other public/private 51-100 7 2.6 2 7.1 9
organization. This large scale unawareness about 101-150
151-250
7
1
2.6
0.4
2
2
7.1
7.1
9
3
BDS emphasizes the need for review in existing Total 272 100 28 100 300
marketing and information dissemination policy of % of Total 90.7 9.3 100

institutions like SMEDA to maximize the impact of their institution.

Whether Attended BDS Programs?

Only 9.3% SMEs had awareness about the BDS of which about 50% (or 4% of total
respondent SMEs) had attended 1-10 seminars on
Attended BDS Program
BDS. Further most of these SMEs had attended the
BDS programs the programs about 2 years back in 5%

2006, which suggests further deceleration in BDS No

programs in the recent past. The large scale Yes

unawareness about BDS providers and SMEDA
signifies the need for substantial improvement in
interaction between SMEs and BDS providers
95%
including SMEDA to improve awareness and
productivity of their programs and initiatives for the
SMEs. The respondent SMEs also suggested that SMEDA should arrange programs in the
industrial estates of the Gujranwala and other SME hubs in the district in collaboration with
the SME Associations, trade bodies and Gujranwala Chamber of Commerce.
Table-5.2: Reasons for Not Attending the BDS Programs
No Yes
Lack of awareness Freq. 29 271
Reasons for not attending BDS Programs No institution
%
Freq.
9.7
147
90.3
153
Lack of awareness, no or limited belief in the Lack of Faith
%
Freq.
49
120
51
180

utility of the programs, lack of reputed institutions, Lack of Time

%
Freq.
40
222
60
78
% 74 26
lack of time with the owner/ member/partners are Costly/unaffordable Freq. 278 22
% 92.7 7.3
some of the key reasons for the SMEs‟ no or Would Like to attend
BDS program? No Yes
limited interest in BDS. Freq.
%
123
41
177
59

Willingness to Attend Training Program

Interestingly 59% of the SMEs expressed their Table-5.3: Willingness to Attend such
willingness to attend BDS programs if arranged program Free of Cost
No Yes Total
free of cost, the rest 41%, however, had no faith in No of Freq. % Freq.
employees
such programs. Some of them lacked confidence
to actively participate in such programs/trainings 1-10 88 96 184
11-25 23 44 67
due to their low qualification. Further there is a 26-50 7 21 28
strong positive correlation between the firm size 51-100 3 6 9
101-150 2 7 9
and the willingness to attend the Business 151-250 3 3
Development trainings; the larger firms have Total 123 177 300
% of Total 41.0 59.0 100.0
shown greater willingness to attend such programs
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
than the smaller firms. This suggests that the larger firms have better appreciation and
understanding of the need for such programs than the smaller firms.
Training Program arranged for workers
Training Program for Workers 100%
Yes
97% SMEs have not arranged any training 80%

programs for their workers during the last 02 60%

No
40%
years due to lack of resources, and lack of 20%
awareness and understanding about the training 0%

needs of their workers and the kind of programs

101-150

151-250
51-100
11-25

26-50
1-10
that can be arranged for the workers to enhance No. of employees

their productivity. Almost all the trading units Table-5.4: Reasons for not conducting training
opined that their workers don‟t need any training programs
due to simple and non-technical nature of their Freq. %
business activities. Further most of the trainings No Need 86 28.7
Lack of awareness 42 14.0
in both manufacturing and trading units are on No Enough Resources 26 8.7
the job wherein the seniors/Ustad imparts On the job training 137 45.7
training to the juniors/Shagirds during live Arranged Training programs 9 3.0
operations. Total 300 100

Page 25 of 41
Section - VI: Access to Finance
Bank Accounts
90% SMEs covered in the survey have bank Does the SME have Bank A/C
10%
accounts; about 50% had the accounts in the name No

of the SME and 40% in the name of their

Yes
proprietors and or partners. 10% of the SMEs had
no bank account, neither in the name of SMEs nor
in the name of their proprietors. Almost all the 90%

SMEs not having the bank accounts are small units

having upto 10 employees.

The manufacturing SMEs being relatively larger in size, resources and capacity than the
trading SMEs, exhibited greater tendency to use banking facilities and services than the
trading units. 92% manufacturing SMEs have
Table-6.1: Have Bankl Account?
banks accounts as compared to 86% trading SMEs. No Yes Total
Further 53% manufacturing SMEs have accounts No of Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
employees
in their own name compared to 43% of trading
1-10 28 93.3 156 57.8 184
SMEs. Overall more manufacturing SMEs are 11-25 2 6.7 65 24.1 67
routing their business transactions through banks 26-50 28 10.4 28
51-100 9 3.3 9
than the trading SMEs. This may be attributable to 101-150 9 3.3 9
the larger business activity of manufacturing 151-250 3 1.1 3
Total 30 100 270 100 300
concerns and their engagement in import/export % of total 10.0 90.0 100
activity and sale/purchase of finished goods/ raw material across the country where the need
for banking facilities is greater. The trading concerns in addition to normal banking channels
also use parchi system & self collection for making/receiving payments.

Further 43% of the SMEs have opened accounts Table-6.2: If yes, since when Bank Account?
1-5 Yrs 6 - 10 Over 10 Years
Total
during last 05 years, 26% have the bank accounts Frequ Colu
No of
since 6-10 years and the remaining 31% for more employes Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % ency mn
%
than 10 years. The bulk of SMEs thus opened the 1-10 82 71 37 52 38 50 157 58
bank accounts during last 7-8 years, the period 11-25 23 20 21 30 21 33 65 24
during which the banking industry registered fast 26-50 5 4 7 10 15 10 27 10
pace growth and expansion. The opening of 51-100 3 3 3 4 3 6 3
101-150 3 3 6 7 9 3
account however is the first step towards a 151-250 3 4 0 3 1
possible long term banking relationship that needs Total 116 100 71 100 83 100 267 100
nurturing through competitive products and % of total 43.4 26.6 31.1 100
services by banks and responsible attitude of the account holder towards use of banking
facilities.

Loans for Business Expansion

Only 35% of the Need loan to expand business?
Table-6.3: Loan Need to Expand Business
No Yes Total
respondent SMEs opined No. of
Employees Freq.
that they need loans to No Yes % Freq. % Freq. %

1-10 119 61.3 65 61.3 184 61.3

expand their business 35%
11-25 45 23.2 22 20.8 67 22.3
whereas 65% reported 65% 26-50
51-100
18
6
9.3
3.1
10 9.4
3 2.8
28 9.3
9 3.0
that they don‟t need loan 101-150 4 2.1 5 4.7 9 3.0
151-250 2 1.0 1 0.9 3 1.0
for business expansion. Total 194 100 106 100 300 100
This is an interesting % of Total 64.7 35.3 100

finding and may be due to depressed business environment in the country for last about one
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
and half year, lack of vision of SMEs to expand the business and apprehensions about interest
(Riba) based nature of banking products.

The smaller firms are relatively more reluctant to access the bank loans than the larger firms.
For instance 50% of the firms having 100 or more workers did not need loans for business
expansion compared to about 66% of the SMEs having less than 100 employees. The sample
size of SMEs having 100 or more employees was however very small, only 4% of the total
SMEs covered in the survey; had this sample was larger the ratio of the larger SMEs
interested in accessing bank loan might have further improved.

Whether Approached by Banks for Extending Loan?

68% of the SMEs covered by the survey were Table-6.4: Approached No
by Banks for Loan?
Yes Total
approached by banks for extending loan and other Employees
No. of
Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
financial services; 32% however were never 1-10 63 66.3 121 59.0 184
approached by banks. Interestingly most of the 11-25 19 20.0 48 23.4 67
26-50 8 8.4 20 9.8 28
SMEs approached by banks were visited upto 10 51-100 2 2.1 7 3.4 9
times. This is a healthy sign and is indicative of 101-150 3 3.2 6 2.9 9
151-250 0 3 1.5 3
banks‟ increasing interest in tapping this market. Total 95 100 205 100 300
% of Total 31.7 68.3 100

Further although banks‟ marketing staff had a 160 No. of Times Approached by Banks.
140
relatively greater focus on larger SMEs for 120 0
introduction/promotion of their products however a 100 1-10
substantial proportion (66%) of smaller firms having 80 60 11-20
upto 10 employees were also approached by banks‟ 40 Over 20
Times
marketing staff for introduction of their products and 200
services. This is encouraging and is indicative of 0 1-10 11-20 Over 20
Times
improving interest of banks in small enterprises.
This may however also be due to better repute of SMEs operating in the district and larger
concentration of banks in the urban areas of the district.

Awareness about Banks loan Products Table-6.5: Awarness about Banks' Loan Products
Contrary to general belief that SMEs lack No. of No Yes Total
Employees
awareness about financial services, 73% SMEs had Freq. % Freq. % Freq.

awareness about bank loan products. 43% SMEs 1-10 68 82.9 116 53.2 184
got the information through the bank‟s marketing 11-25 11 13.4 56 25.7 67
26-50 2 2.4 26 11.9 28
staff, 13% through their business colleagues and 51-100 1 1.2 8 3.7 9
another13% through more than one source. 101-150 9 4.1 9
151-250 3 1.4 3
Although majority of the respondent SMEs has Total 82 100 218 100 300
awareness about the banks‟ loan products, however % of Total 27.3 72.7 100

still a handsome proportion (27%) is unaware of the Sources of Information about Bank Services

loan products etc. Further 32% of the SMEs were Bank marketing
staff

never approached by banks. This signifies the need 1%

1%
Business
colleagues
for further improvement in banks‟ sales and 11%
Friends & Family

marketing efforts for expanding their SME 43%

No Information
27%
portfolios. The more frequent awareness programs Bank Staff &
Business
and meetings with the SMEs at their business 4% 13%
colleagues
Bank Staff &
Friends & Family
locations with the help of SMEs association/ trade Colleagues &

bodies may be instrumental in improving the Friends & family

awareness levels and thus expanding the banks‟

SME portfolio.
Page 27 of 41
Whether Applied for Bank Loan?
Only 25% of the SMEs applied for bank Table-6.6: Ever Applied for Bank Loan?
loans whereas the remaining 75% never No Yes Total
No. of
applied for the bank loans. This finding is
Employees Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
in line with the earlier finding that 65%
SMEs don‟t need loans for expanding their 1-10 154 69.1 30 39.0 184
11-25 46 20.6 21 27.3 67
business. There is strong correlation 26-50 15 6.7 13 16.9 28
between the firm size and possibility for 51-100 6 2.7 3 3.9 9
applying for the loans, the larger firms 101-150 2 0.9 7 9.1 9
have greater tendency to apply and avail 151-250 3 3.9 3
Total 223 100 77 100 300
bank loans than the smaller firms. For % of Total 74.3 25.7 100
instance 16% of the firms having upto 10
employees applied for bank loans compared to 31% firms having 11-25 employees, 46%
firms with 26-50 employees and 83% firms having more than 100 employees.

Reasons for Not Applying Loan

About 78% of the SMEs who had never Table-6.7: Reasons for not applying loan
applied for bank loans were Reasons Yes % No % Total %
uncomfortable with the interest based Lack of awareness about
loan products being extended by banks. financial services 14 6.3 210 93.8 224 100
While this may not be a conclusive Religious grounds 174 77.7 50 22.3 224 100
evidence for the extensive demand for High interest rates 131 58.5 93 41.5 224 100
Islamic finance products as it is not clear Cumbersome and lengthy
that whether these respondents need the procedure 117 52.2 107 47.8 224 100
loans etc, however generally the
Others - - - - - -
respondents do highlight the interest
(Riba) based banking products as one of the reasons for their reluctance to access bank loans.
A handsome majority (about 58%) opined that high interest rate of banks were responsible
for their reluctance in accessing bank loans. One possible explanation for this response may
be the timing of the survey; the survey was conducted in May-June 08, the period during
which discount rate was increased by 150 bps. Further there has been rising interest rate
regime for last about 2 years that might have created a perception amongst the business
community that banks‟ interest rates are on higher side. The banks‟ cumbersome and lengthy
procedure is also one of the key impediments in SMEs‟ access to bank loans as 52% of those
who never applied for bank loans attributed their reluctance to apply for bank loans to the
perceived complexities and lengthy procedures for obtaining the loans. The observation is in
line with general perception that banks‟ procedures and documentation requirements are too
stiff particularly for SMEs and that only influential and larger sized SMEs can access the
bank loans.

Loan Acceptance Ratio

Interestingly a large majority of the SMEs that had Fate of Loan if applied?

applied for bank loans were able to obtain the loans; Not
a pplied for
the loan applications of only 13 SMEs (16% of those loa n
Accepted

which applied for bank loans) were rejected by 4%

21% Rejected
banks. The 84% loan acceptance ratio is
encouraging and is indicative of Banks‟ willingness 75%

to cater to the SMEs financial services needs.

 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
The firm size wise analysis of loan Table-6.8: If yes, what was the Fate of Loan?
acceptance and rejection ratio shows that Not applied Accepted Rejected In Process Total
62% of the firms whose loan applications No. of
Employees Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq. % Freq.
were rejected were very small having upto
10 employees; however 35% of the SMEs 1-10 154 69.1 22 34.9 8 61.5 184
whose loans were accepted were also very 11-25 46 20.6 17 27.0 3 23.1 1 100 67
26-50 15 6.7 11 17.5 2 15.4 28
small having upto 10 workers and 27% of
51-100 6 2.7 3 4.8 9
the firms whose loans accepted were also 101-150 2 0.9 7 11.1 9
relatively small with 11-25 workers. 151-250 3 4.8 3
Although the larger firms have greater Total 223 100 63 100 13 100 1 100 300
tendency to apply for bank loans and their % of Total 74.33 21.0 4.33 0.33 100
loan acceptance ratios are also relatively higher, most of the smaller firms that applied for the
loans have been able to obtain the loans. Further almost all the loans to the SMEs except one
were extended by commercial banks; one SME obtained loan from an SME bank. The SME
type wise analysis shows that most of the SMEs that applied for bank loans were the
manufacturing concerns and also most of the SMEs whose loans were approved were the
manufacturing concerns.

The period since 1st Loan Obtained

Another important feature of SME financing in the Relationship since 1st Loan Availed
Not
district is that most of the SMEs who obtained availed
bank loans, took the loans during last about 7 loan
Loan
years. Only 14 SMEs (18%) of those which 5% Rejected
11%
obtained bank loans had availed the loans by the 5% 1976 -
year 2000, whereas the rest about 82% of the SMEs 4% 2000

obtained the bank loans during 2001-08. This may 75%

2001-2005

be attributed to the fast pace expansion of banking

industry during the period and SBP focus on
broadening and deepening of the banking system
and thus bringing un-banked/ under-banked
areas/sectors like SMEs in the fold of banking.

Reasons for Loan Rejection Table-6.9: Reasons for Loan Rejection

The absence of financial statements, insufficient Yes No
Reasons Total
cash flows and inadequate collaterals were the key Freq % Freq %
reasons for the loan rejection. However as the Lack of Collaterals 3 23.1 10 76.9 13
sample size for loan rejection statistics was too Inadequate Prop. Title 5 38.5 8 61.5 13
Insufficient Cash flows 8 61.5 5 38.5 13
small this finding may not be true representative of
Financial Statements 7 53.6 6 46.2 13
the reasons for SMEs loan rejection.

Type of Bank Loans Availed

75% of the SMEs having access to bank loans
Type of Loans Availed
availed short term running finance and 14.7%
obtained long term fixed investment loan. Further 100%
12
1
0 0 Trading

9.6% of the manufacturing SMEs availed export 80%

Manufac
financing under SBP export finance scheme. 60%
1 6
turing
8
Thus most of the loans extended to the SMEs are 40% 35

short term in nature and the long term loans that 20%

encourage and accelerate capital formation, 0%

Short term Long term Personal Export
constitute a very small proportion of the loans Running
Finance
Fixed
Investment
Loan Financing

Page 29 of 41
being extended to SMEs. The banks‟ entry into the SMEs (particularly the small enterprises)
sector is however a recent phenomenon and most of the banks are at a very early stage of
developing their capacities to serve the SMEs. The position thus would improve gradually
with the improvement in banks‟ comfort level with the SMEs.

Bank Loans and SME Types

As also discussed earlier the manufacturing units seems to have better access to the financial
services than the trading units; about 79% of total SMEs, that availed the loan are
manufacturing units and only 21% are trading concerns. Further 71% of the manufacturing
concerns did not apply for the loan as compared to 82% of trading units. Though the
manufacturing units relatively have better access to banking facilities than trading units, a
very large majority (more than 70%) does not have access to the bank loans that limit their
capacity to grow and expand their business levels.

No. of days consumed in obtaining loan Table-6.10: No of days consumed in obtaining loan
%age out of
43% SMEs consumed on the average consumed No of days consumed 63 SMEs
Freq. % which availed
21-30 days in getting the loan sanctioned by the in obtaining loan
loan
bank. About 21% consumed 31-60 days in the loan Not Applied/Availed 224 74.7 -
sanctioning process while 14% consumed more Loan Rejected 13 4.3 -
than 02 months in the whole process; 02 of the Not Responded 2 0.7 3.2
1-30 Days 6 2 9.5
respondent refused to respond. 17% used the 31-60 Days 6 2 9.5
references for obtaining the loan and 14% also 61-180 Days 27 9 42.9
used undue considerations for obtaining the loans. Total 300 100.0

Reference Used for Loan

Undue Considerations
No
17%
14% No
Yes

Yes

83%
86%

Preferred Source of Finance

Table-6.11: Preferred Source of Finance
Majority (70%) of the SMEs prefer to
SME type
borrow from the Friends & Family (F & F) Source Manufacturing Trading Total
as borrowings from F & F are easy and Size % Size % Size %
immediately available. Further it doesn‟t Friends and Family 147 70.0 62 68.9 209 69.7
require any sort of laborious Banks 44 21.0 21 23.3 65 21.7
documentation/collateral and is also SME Bank 0 0.0 1 1.1 1 0.3
interest free. Only 22% SMEs considered Advance from Supplier 3 1.4 3 3.3 6 2.0
the bank loans a preferred source as the Advance from Buyer 3 1.4 0 0.0 3 1.0
bank loan are available in larger quantity
Don't want to take loan 11 5.2 1 1.1 12 4.0
and for relatively longer period compared
to the loans from the F & F; the F & F Friends & Family and Bank 2 1.0 2 2.2 4 1.3

loans are for short term of 2-3 months and Total 210 100 90 100 300 100
% of Total 70 30 100
the amount of such loans are also very
small.
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008

Key Issues

Table-6.30: Issues/Problems Identified

Size of SMEs by Employees No.→

1-10

11-25

26-50

51-100

101-150

151-250
Yes Yes
Freq. %
Execessive regulation Yes (#) 120 54 26 7 6 3 216 72.0
Energy shortages (Electricity/gas loadssheddings) Yes (#) 183 66 28 9 9 3 298 99.3
High energy cost Yes (#) 182 66 28 8 9 3 296 98.7
Water shortages (for industrial processing) Yes (#) 17 9 4 1 1 32 10.7
Difficulties in marketing & selling products Yes (#) 91 33 13 6 3 2 148 49.3
Obsolete technolgy Yes (#) 36 23 10 2 4 1 76 25.3
Rising Competition (particularly Chinese products) Yes (#) 79 33 16 3 4 2 137 45.7
Limited R&D and BDS support Yes (#) 101 49 14 4 5 2 175 58.3
Lack of capital and financil resources Yes (#) 129 43 14 4 1 191 63.7
Limited awarness aboput backward/forward linkages Yes (#) 58 33 10 3 1 105 35.0
Low skill mix of the labour/workforce Yes (#) 45 22 13 1 4 3 88 29.3
Limited productivity of workers Yes (#) 32 22 4 2 4 3 67 22.3

1. Excessive Regulations
72% of the SMEs covered in the survey considered excessive government regulation as one
of the key impediments in the growth and expansion of their businesses. The SMEs
seemingly perturbed with the excessive regulation said that about 19 Government
Departments survey/visit their factories and demand undue considerations. Despite a series
of reforms in taxation policies over the past few years, the SMEs were highly uncomfortable
with the terrifying attitude of the tax officials. Most SMEs considers the tax system complex
and ambiguous that forces them to engage lawyers for preparing the required tax documents
and returns. At times the lawyers mislead and exploit the SMEs due to their lack of
knowledge about the taxation system and laws that further complicates the issue.

The business community is also uncomfortable with the facilities being provided to the tax
payers; even the basic infrastructure of the industrial zones is not only inadequate but also in
bad shape and the business has no or limited hope for its improvement. They are also
unenthusiastic about these surveys and don‟t think that these would solve their problems.
Another issue raised by many respondents was the withholding tax on cash withdrawals from
banks. Most SMEs consider it unfair and warned that it would add to the financial exclusion
of the SMEs as many have already started maintaining larger cash balances with them to
avoid the tax.

2. Energy Shortages
Energy shortage is presently the most critical issue faced by the country generally and small
industrial and manufacturing concerns particularly. Almost all (99.3%) of the respondent
SMEs considered it one of the most critical issues that has threatened their existence and
continuity. The average weekly production losses of the manufacturing SMEs are above 33
hours, which is almost 50% of the total weekly production time. If not addressed in the
immediate future on war footings, the energy crisis would eat up many SMEs and would
result into substantial rise in un-employment and poverty levels.

Page 31 of 41
3. High Energy Cost
Rising fuel and energy prices have further aggravated the energy crisis implications. The
hikes in the oil and electricity prices have translated into sharp rise in production and
distribution cost and thus has made many businesses unviable. 98.7% of the SMEs
considered the high energy cost as one of the key issue faced by them.

4. Difficulties in Marketing and Selling the Products

49% SMEs are facing difficulties in marketing and selling their products. The issue is
predominantly faced by smaller firms due to their limited skills in marketing and their
reluctance to hire business professionals in key areas like marketing and sales of their
products; in most cases the entrepreneur himself is the manager, accountant, treasurer and
marketer. The limited support available from institutions like SMEDA and TDAP is also
partly responsible for this issue being faced by SMEs.

5. Rising Competition from Chinese Products

Chinese products are giving tough time to our manufacturing sector due to their low prices,
better designs and finishing. 46% of the respondents opined that they are facing direct
competition from Chinese products and expect Government to look into the issue and take
measures to protect the local industry from the “invasion” of cheap Chinese products.
However, in view of increasing trend of trade openness and free trade agreements, the
domestic SMEs will have to improve their efficiency, quality and productivity otherwise their
very existence is at stake.

6. Limited R & D and BDS support:

58% firms consider no or limited R&D and BDS (business development services) as a key
issue being faced by them. Thus a large majority of SMEs has an understanding and
appreciation of the importance of R & D and BDS in growth and development of their
businesses; they are however uncomfortable with the existing infrastructure and institutional
set-up for the same. Further the remaining 42% that doesn‟t consider this an issue may be
having limited awareness and understanding about the importance of R&D and BDS. The
finding thus signifies the need for reviewing the role and approach of institutions like
SMEDA to facilitate the SMEs in improving their productivity as well as their capacity to
maintain books of accounts etc. The enhanced productivity and maintenance of books of
accounts would facilitate the SMEs in accessing financial services from banks.
7. Lack of Technical and Professional Training Institutions
Despite being a hub of light engineering industries, the region lacks quality institutions for
producing skilled manpower necessary for technology up gradation. Although Rachna
College of Engineering has been operative in the district, yet it has only limited
liaison/linkage with industrial activity of the area. More than 50% of the SMEs covered in
the survey considered it as one of the key issues as it limits innovation, product improvement,
efficiency and productivity of the workers most of whom were trained in an informal
environment. There is thus an urgent need for Federal/Provincial/District Government and
institutions like TEVTA, SMEDA and chamber of commerce to develop a strategy for
increasing the quantity of technical and vocational institutions in all the manufacturing hubs
like Gujranwala District.
8. Lack of Capital and Financial Resources
About 64% of the respondent SMEs consider lack of capital and financial resources as a key
issue/impediment in growth of their business. As expected, the issue is more prevalent in
smaller firms having up to 25 workers probably due to perceived complexities in obtaining
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
the bank loans and or Riba based loan products. Interestingly earlier in the „Access to
Finance Section‟ 65% SMEs had expressed their un-willingness to access bank loans to
expand their businesses and a very large majority of about 75% SMEs had never applied for
the bank loans. This seemingly contradictory response suggests that though the SMEs need
financial and capital resources to both to finance their existing operations and expand their
businesses, they however lack faith in the banking system either due to interest (Riba) based
banks‟ products or perceived difficulties and complexities in accessing the bank loans. This
interpretation is also in line with the earlier finding that about 78% SMEs are reluctant to
access bank loans due to interest (Riba) based loan products of banks. Again though this is
not a conclusive evidence for demand for Islamic banking products, however, it signifies the
need for creating awareness about Islamic Banking products to address one of the concerns of
the business community about interest based banking system.

Page 33 of 41
Conclusion
The survey made an attempt to explore the key features, characteristics, technical, managerial
and financial capacity, accounting and record keeping practices, cash flow cycles, the
financial services needs, access to institutional finance and they key issues/problems faced by
the manufacturing and trading SMEs in Gujranwala district. The key objective was to
facilitate the stakeholders including banks to have a better understanding of business and risk
dynamics of the district‟s SMEs, thus enabling them to better serve the SMEs. The survey
not only confirmed some earlier findings about SMEs like their predominantly small and
informal nature, lack of access to BDS and financial services and information asymmetries
particularly regarding cash flows, but also made some interesting revelations such as; about
two third of the SMEs don‟t need bank loans to expand their businesses, three fourth never
applied for bank loans, more than three fourth of the SMEs that did not apply for bank loans
consider Riba based banking products as un-Islamic.
The survey suggests that an overwhelming majority of the SMEs operating in the district are
small proprietorship firms employing less than 20 workers, which signifies the need for
separately defining Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) that largely remain un-served/under-
served by banks and BDS providers and are more vulnerable to shocks like energy crisis,
rising energy cost and inflation. The separate definition of MSEs would enable the policy
makers both in the financial and real sector, to formulate more focused and responsive
policies, products and initiatives for enhancing capacity of the MSEs and for improving their
access to financial and business development services.
The survey observed that ownership of business premises by a very large majority of the
SMEs, particularly by the manufacturing units, the access to basic raw material from within
the district, the countrywide market for the products and deeply ingrained entrepreneurial
culture are the major strengths of the SMEs of Gujranwala district. Whereas the key
weaknesses include limited exposure in export/international markets, limited awareness and
understanding of contemporary marketing and sales techniques coupled with reluctance to
hire professional marketing and sales force, gross absence of BDS providers, non-
maintenance of formal books of accounts, disbelief in the banking system etc. Further the
District despite being a hub of manufacturing SMEs badly lack quality technical and
professional training institutions and need urgent attention of the relevant authorities to
establish quality technical and professional educational institutions in the district to increase
the proportion of formally trained manpower in the industry.

The district‟s SMEs are also extremely disturbed with the multiple and excessive regulatory
and revenue collection agencies that add substantially to the cost of doing business and make
the policy and regulatory environment unfriendly for business and investment. The
Federal/Provincial/District Governments should thus consider reducing the excessive
regulatory departments and ensure business and investment friendly environment to attract
further investment in SMEs, which are a major source of employment generation in the
economy. Further the revenue collection system needs to be made simple and tax payers‟
friendly; preferably one revenue authority with minimum discretionary powers should collect
revenues/taxes from the business community. Also there was an overwhelming demand for
waiver of the withholding tax on cash withdrawals from banks as due to very nature of the
SMEs‟ business and operations a substantially large number of their transactions are cash
based; since the introduction of the tax there have been a greater tendency amongst the SMEs
to keep larger cash balances with them to avoid the tax.
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008
The energy crisis manifested by severe energy shortages and unprecedented hike in energy
prices has played havoc with the district‟s manufacturing SMEs. On average the SMEs have
been experiencing production time losses of up to 50% which coupled with hike in energy
prices has substantially increased the production cost, thus rendering a number of SMEs
unviable. The issue thus needs to be addressed on immediate priority; while government has
plans to fix the issue in the medium term, special arrangements should be made as early as
possible to provide uninterrupted power supply to industrial and manufacturing units/SMEs.

As expected the survey suggested that a large majority of SMEs is out of the banking system
as 75% of the SMEs never applied for bank loans. This is despite the fact that about 64% of
SMEs, mostly smaller firms, considered lack of capital and financial resources as a key issue
being faced by them. The survey thus suggests that though the SMEs need financial and
capital resources to finance their existing operations and also to expand their businesses, they
however lack faith in the banking system either due to interest (Riba) based banks‟ products
or perceived difficulties and complexities in accessing the bank loans. There is thus a need
for greater interaction between banks and the business community and initiating awareness
programs to minimize SMEs‟ apprehensions with the banking system and also to introduce
market responsive products and services including Islamic Finance.

The survey also observed that most of the bank loans to the district‟s SMEs were extended
during last 7-8 years, the period during which SBP made concerted efforts for broadening and
deepening of the banking system and increasing its outreach to un-banked/under-banked
sectors like SMEs and agricultural/rural communities. Thus though still a large majority of
SMEs are out of the banking system, accession of a substantial proportion of SMEs (78% of
the SMEs that obtained bank loans) during this period gives optimism that the continued
focus and attention of SBP/financial sector on expanding the depth and breadth of the
financial system will translate into substantial improvement in outreach of financial system to
all sectors of the country‟s economy including SMEs provided the demand side issues faced
by the sector are addressed on priority.

Page 35 of 41
 Annexures
Annexure-I: Clusterwise No. of SME Units Selected for Survey

No. SME Cluster No. of Units Sample Size Percentage (out of 210)
1 Looms 1620 10 4.76
2 Utensils 504 11 5.24
3 Foundry products 297 9 4.29
4 Fan/Cooler 154 8 3.81
5 Wooden Furniture 200 8 3.81
6 Sanitary fittings 234 10 4.76
7 Bolts and Nuts 58 7 3.33
8 Cutlery 198 9 4.29
9 Auto Parts 48 5 2.38
10 Electric Goods 33 4 1.9
11 Hosiery Products 65 8 3.81
12 Motor Pumps 138 8 3.81
13 Plastic Mela Mine 49 5 2.38
14 Gas Appliances 32 5 2.38
15 Metal Furniture 80 5 2.38
16 Plastic Products 130 10 4.76
17 Rice Mills 217 10 4.76
18 Marble 57 10 4.76
19 Washing Machines 95 8 3.81
20 Woolen Textl
Spin./Weaving 66 5 2.38
21 Agri Implements 39 5 2.38
22 Ceramics Products 87 8 3.81
23 Flour Mills 42 5 2.38
24 Industrial Machinery 45 4 1.9
25 Machine Tools 43 6 2.86
26 Wires and Cable 16 5 2.38
27 Light Engineering 27 4 1.9
28 Pottery 46 7 3.33
29 G.I/M.s Pipes 13 4 1.9
30 Furnace Steel 49 7 3.33
Total 4682 210 100
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008

Annexure -II: Clusterwise Composition of Workforce (Numbers and Averages)

Sr. Manufacturing The Composition of HR (#) Total Average
No Clusters Unskille Avg Semi Avg skilled Avg worker/fir
d skilled m
1 Looms 10 1 0 0 155 16 165 17
2 Utensils 48 4 43 4 184 17 275 25
3 Foundry products 6 1 6 1 27 3 39 4
4 Fan/Cooler 16 2 42 5 115 14 173 22
5 Wooden Furniture 0 0 14 2 50 6 64 8
6 Sanitary fittings 138 14 98 10 247 25 483 48
7 Bolts and Nuts 17 2 14 2 22 3 53 8
8 Cutlery 51 6 45 5 161 18 257 29
9 Auto Parts 35 7 107 21 57 11 199 40
10 Electric Goods 10 3 15 4 105 26 130 33
11 Hosiery Products 10 1 4 1 92 12 106 13
12 Motor Pumps 45 6 73 9 88 11 206 26
13 Plastic Mela Mine 5 1 1 0 47 9 53 11
14 Gas Appliances 17 3 4 1 93 19 114 23
15 Metal Furniture 4 1 6 1 21 4 31 6
16 Plastic Products 68 7 44 4 90 9 202 20
17 Rice Mills 117 12 70 7 80 8 267 27
18 Marble 0 0 14 1 61 6 75 8
19 Washing Machines 40 5 81 10 62 8 183 23
20 Woolen Textile Spinning/Weaving 7 1 70 14 194 39 271 54
21 Agri Implements 0 0 11 2 49 10 60 12
22 Ceramics Products 52 7 81 10 314 39 447 56
23 Flour Mills 22 4 11 2 69 14 102 20
24 Industrial Machinery 26 7 53 13 93 23 172 43
25 Machine Tools 4 1 5 1 25 4 34 6
26 Wires and Cable 0 0 4 1 37 7 41 8
27 Light Engineering 2 1 4 1 19 5 25 6
28 Pottery 179 26 100 14 183 26 462 66
29 G.I/M.s Pipes 17 4 14 4 30 8 61 15
30 Furnace Steel 565 81 29 4 52 7 646 92
Total 1511 7 1063 5 2822 13 5396 26
% of total 28.0 19.7 52.3 100.0

Page 37 of 41
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008

Annexure-III: Cluster-Wise list of Manufacturing SMEs Products

1. Looms 14. Gas Appliance
1 Grey Cloth 5 shawl 1 Burner 4 Gas Cork
2 PC Cloth 6 Crinkle 2 Cooking Range 5 Heater
3 Silk 7 Jarjhat 3 Gas stove 6 Geysers
4 Shafoon 15. Metal Furniture
2. Utensils 1 Adjustable Rack 5 commode chair
1 BBQ Oven 8 Plates 2 Simple Chair 6 Table
2 Bread Box 9 Balti 3 Folding chair 7 Safe Almari
3 Dish 10 Hot Pot 4 Metal Furniture
4 Karahi 11 Jugs 16. Plastic Products
5 Kitchen Set 12 Parat 1 Bolt Kit 9 Water Tank
6 Mugs 13 Payali 2 Bowl 10 Baby Items
7 Tray 14 Spoons 3 Water mug 11 bath mug
3. Foundry Products 4 Office Furniture 12 Box
1 Air Cooler Parts 10 Chips Cutter 5 Plastic Dana 13 Chaba
2 Dies 11 condition brackets 6 Plastic Furniture 14 Filter
3 Donkey Pump Parts 12 Fan Parts 7 Soap Handle 15 Garden Furniture
4 Fan Body 13 kamani patta 8 Toys 16 Jug
5 Hanger for Truck 14 washing machine part 17. Rice Mills
6 Main Hole cover 15 Pipe Fittings 1 Rice 3 Husk
7 Parts of Motor 16 Turbine pump parts 2 Powder
8 wais 17 wrench 18. Marble
9 Diesel pump 1 Marble Tiles 3 Marble Roller
4. Fan/Cooler 2 Marble Floor Flower
1 Fan 2 Cooler 19. Washing Machine
5. Wooden Furniture 1 Washing Machine
1 Home Furniture 2 Office Furniture 20. Woolen Textile Spinning/Weaving
6. Sanitary fittings 1 Ladies Shawl 4 Ladies Suit
1 Sanitary Fittings 3 Bath Room Accessories 2 Polyester Grey Cloth 5 Thread
2 Pipes 4 Sink 3 Yarn
7. Nuts and Bolts 21. Agri Implements
1 Bolts 3 Spring washel 1 Cultivator 5 Drill
2 Nuts 4 Screw 2 Front Blade 6 Cultivator
8. Cutlery 3 Front Loader 7 Trolley Jacque
1 Dagger 6 Hunting Knife 4 Trolley 8 Reaper
2 Domestic Cutlery 7 Fork 22. Ceramics Products
3 Knife 8 Domestic Knife 1 Orissa 5 Pedestal
4 Spoon 9 Fighting Knife 2 Sanitary Ware 6 P Trap
5 Sword 10 Tablet cutlery 3 Commode 7 Wash Basin
9. Auto Parts 4 Fire bricks
1 Bush 8 Clutch 23. Flour Mills
2 Dour Hinges 9 Compressor 1 Flour 3 Bran
3 Leave Spring 10 Cross Member 2 Semolina 4 Super Fine
4 Pipe Inlet 11 Excel 24. Industrial Machinery
5 Ring Piston 12 compressor Head 1 Gear 5 Drop out Cutter
6 Cross Member 13 Cylinder Head 2 Transformers 6 Fuse Link
7 Pin 3 Unidate Machine 7 Rubber Mixture
10. Electric Goods 4 Tyre Curing press 8 Spur Gear
1 Ballast 5 Die-casting Parts 25. Machine Tools
2 Chock Patti fitting 6 No Product 1 Electric Motor 2 Power Press
3 Flour Needing Mac 7 Tube Light 26. Wires and Cable
4 Transformer 1 Copper Wire 2 Silver wire
11. Hosiery 27. Light Engineering
1 Gloves 4 Scarf 1 Battery Cell 4 Mould
2 Jersey 5 Sweater 2 Heat treatment Ferns 5 Plastic Mold
3 Ladies Jersey 3 Ovens welding Equipment
12. Motor Pumps 28. Pottery
1 Deep Well 4 Diesel Engine 1 Cup 3 Juice Mugs
2 Mono Block 5 Mono Pump 2 Mug 4 Tea Mug
3 Pumps 3 Table Ware
13. Plastic Mela-Mine 29. G.I/M.s Pipes
1 Dinner Set 4 Dish 1 Pipes
2 Hotpot 5 Donga 30. Furnace
3 Plate 1 Billets

Page 39 of 41
Annexure-IV: Cluster-Wise Cost Structures of SMEs
Avg Percentage in Total Cost *
SME Cluster Raw Material Labor Charges Gas/Electricity Financial ChargesAdmin/Operating
Looms 61.43 15.71 15.00 5.00 7.14
Utensils 56.82 16.82 16.82 - 9.55
Foundry products 55.00 11.43 26.14 4.00 6.29
Fan/Cooler 63.57 11.43 16.43 - 12.00
Wooden Furniture 70.83 15.00 7.50 - 6.67
Sanitary fittings 60.00 15.56 15.56 5.00 8.13
Bolts and Nuts 77.50 11.00 6.50 2.00 4.00
Cutlery 67.22 13.00 12.00 5.40 4.78
Auto Parts 67.00 15.60 12.40 4.00 5.20
Electric Goods 68.75 12.50 10.75 2.00 7.50
Hosiery Products 60.00 21.67 10.83 2.00 7.17
Motor Pumps 65.00 13.00 13.83 10.00 6.50
Plastic Mela Mine 57.50 15.00 22.50 - 5.00
Gas Appliances 66.67 10.00 10.00 - 13.33
Metal Furniture 62.50 17.50 15.75 2.00 5.00
Plastic Products 63.57 12.57 18.57 - 5.29
Rice Mills 74.50 8.20 12.40 2.60 3.80
Marble 60.30 16.70 19.10 2.00 4.63
Washing Machines 65.88 11.00 14.38 2.00 8.50
Woolen Txtil. Spin/Weav. 43.75 16.25 28.75 5.00 10.00
Agri Implements 69.00 13.60 11.80 - 5.80
Ceramics Products 45.00 14.17 27.50 7.50 8.33
Flour Mills 71.00 8.20 12.00 2.33 7.40
Industrial Machinery 63.33 20.67 11.67 - 4.00
Machine Tools 75.00 10.00 7.67 - 7.33
Wires and Cable 60.00 8.33 31.67 - 1.00
Light Engineering 50.00 30.00 15.00 - 5.00
Pottery 30.71 17.29 43.57 7.50 6.29
G.I/M.s Pipes 53.75 17.50 23.75 3.00 8.50
Furnace Steel 73.33 5.67 17.00 2.00 4.00
Average 61.65 13.95 17.14 4.27 6.73
* Based on the respondents's opinions/guess/rough estimates
 SMEs Survey of District Gujranwala 2008

Annexure V: Estimated Sales Growth during last 3 years *

Cluster
SMEs in

Growth
Overall
Estimated Sales Growth during last 3 yrs.

25%

%
26-50

100 %
51-

100 %
over

h
Growt
ve
Negati
h
Growt
No
SME Cluster
Looms 3 0 0 0 6 1 10 -Ve
Utensils 6 1 0 0 2 2 11 +Ve
Foundry products 0 0 0 0 8 1 9 -Ve
Fan/Cooler 3 1 0 0 2 2 8 +Ve
Wooden Furniture 4 0 0 0 1 3 8 +Ve
Sanitary fittings 2 1 0 2 3 2 10 +Ve
Bolts and Nuts 4 0 0 0 3 0 7 +Ve
Cutlery 0 0 0 0 8 1 9 -Ve
Auto Parts 2 0 0 0 0 3 5 +Ve
Electric Goods 0 1 0 0 1 2 4 Zero
Hosiery Products 0 0 0 0 7 1 8 -Ve
Motor Pumps 2 0 0 0 2 4 8 Zero
Plastic Mela Mine 2 0 0 0 3 0 5 -Ve
Gas Appliances 0 0 0 0 1 4 5 -Ve
Metal Furniture 2 0 0 0 2 1 5 Zero
Plastic Products 5 1 0 0 4 0 10 +Ve
Rice Mills 1 1 3 1 2 2 10 +Ve
Marble 8 0 0 0 1 1 10 +Ve
Washing Machines 4 1 0 0 0 3 8 +Ve
Woolen Textile Spinning/Weaving 1 0 0 0 2 2 5 -Ve
Agri Implements 1 0 0 0 0 4 5 +Ve
Ceramics Products 2 0 0 0 0 6 8 +Ve
Flour Mills 4 0 0 0 1 0 5 +Ve
Industrial Machinery 2 0 0 0 0 2 4 +Ve
Machine Tools 1 0 1 0 4 0 6 -Ve
Wires and Cable 1 1 0 0 2 1 5 Zero
Light Engineering 1 0 0 0 1 2 4 Zero
Pottery 1 0 0 0 2 4 7 -Ve
G.I/M.s Pipes 2 0 0 0 2 0 4 Zero
Furnace Steel 1 3 2 0 1 0 7 +Ve
Total 65 11 6 3 71 54 210
% of Gr. Categories 31 5 3 1 34 26 100
* Based on respondents' perception of growth which might have some element of bias.

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