Transfer of technology in informal sector: a case of power Ghanis in a Tamil Nadu village

Abstract

In the initial phases, improved technologies have always been difficult to popularise among the target adoptors. To overcome this constraint, the authorities charges with the task of popularising them have opted to offer different kinds of incentives to the prospective adoptors. Such incentives are often in the form of grants, institutional loans at highly subsidized rates of interest, tax exemptions and subsidized tariffs. In the case of institutional subsidized loans, the criterion employed to identify the beneficiaries is the creditworthiness of the prospective beneficiary in other words his resource position. Such a policy bypasses ruthlessly, the resource poor individuals though they may be willing to take the risk and motivated. Most often the technologies are more productive than traditional ones. Thus, their adoptors enjoy considerable advantage of returns over non-adoptors.