If Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh is home to the country’s largest hand-knit carpet weaving industry, Moradabad is famous for its brassware; Aligarh is famous for its locks and neighbouring Khurja in Bulandshahr is well known for its ceramic pottery. One common factor in all these industrial places is that they are all manned mostly by Muslim artisans and craftsmen. There are several such clusters in the country.

Despite having worked for generations in more intricate crafts like gold and silver jewellery and world-famous embroideries like chikankari and zardozi, woodcraft and weaving, the plight of Muslim craftsmen have not improved. Living in the dark and dingy alleys of these cities in quite trying circumstances, these craftsmen have not been able to take charge of their trade.

“Muslims are very good artisans but if you look at their condition, it has not changed. For generations they have been working in the same occupation but their conditions remain the same,” says 55-year-old Mohammed Saqib, a Delhi-based economist who after years of toying with the idea of setting up a separate business chamber for the community has finally put it into shape. The organisation is registered as the Muslim Business Chamber (MBC), on the lines of the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DICCI) and its primary aim is to provide financial empowerment and mainstreaming Muslim entrepreneurs.

Having studied economics at University of Western Ontario, Canada, Saqib has worked at top Delhi-based think-tanks, including Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies (RGICS). With 30 years of experience behind him, he has honed his skills in international trade. 

In contrast to his academic acumen, his solution for the community is quite simple. As small-scale businesses carried by Muslims comprise a substantial percentage of the overall business in the unorganised sector, Saqib’s idea is to link these small-scale businesses with the market. “Everything will be automatically taken care of, if there is a linkage between market forces and small entrepreneurs without any involvement of brokerage in between,” he says.

But why this financial empowerment? Saqib explains: “Ten people work on orders and design and supply the material. Despite having worked for generations, their plight remains the same. To improve their condition, financial empowerment is the best solution. Hand-holding is required by the forum to which they can relate.” While he believes financial empowerment to be the answer for improving the Muslims’ lot, he is critical of the government spoon-feeding the community. He has his reasons.

The products generated by small entrepreneurs generally land into the hands of brokers who tend to benefit the most from the deal. These people involved in small-scale industries remain trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. Even the bank credit may be hard to procure for the Muslim entrepreneurs, for most of whom it is difficult to arrange all the required documents.

The government’s promises are hardly effective. In the near absence of modern education, Muslims hardly get jobs and are mostly self-employed. “Talk to these Muslim craftsmen. They will tell you that they need no sops, no freebies from the government. All they need is that their product is linked to the market. Only that will alleviate their poverty once and for all,” says Saqib.

He questions how government schemes can work for the Muslim community when they don’t have ration cards, identity cards, passports and they do not file income tax returns. “The Muslims are not capable of taking banks loans. On what basis will they get loans if they don’t have proper identity papers with them?” asks Saqib.

The Raghuram Rajan committee report (2008) on the financial sector reforms had also stated that the Muslim community was largely left out of ambit of banking services.

His inspiration

Saqib was inspired by the DICCI, whose mentor, Chandra Bhan Prasad, and advisor D Shyam Babu have known Saqib for years. Taking a cue from DICCI’s achievements, Saqib began working on the idea of a similar chamber for his own community. Founded in 2005, DICCI has been instrumental in helping many business start-ups for the dalit community. “The way DICCI has been helping aspiring dalit entrepreneurs set up their business ventures, besides providing critical inputs to the existing enterprises for further growth, is commendable,” Saqib says. He notes how, in the last few years of its existence, DICCI has grown and shown economic muscle, and policymakers have taken note of it.

“The real purpose is to encourage the marginalised community. They face three problems: lack of information, lack of confidence, and a lack of capital. The purpose of forming a separate chamber of commerce for such a community is to instil confidence in them so that they become master of their own destiny. We are just saying that you (the marginalised community) also have the ability to raise money and there are more avenues if you become entrepreneurs. In the last few years, DICCI has been successful in its mission. By forming a separate chamber for the Muslim community, which is as marginalised as dalits, there will be chances of improvement in the community’s condition. More small businessmen will be connected through a single platform,” Shyam Babu of DICCI says of the initiative.   

When Saqib was working with RGICS in the late 1990s, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had asked him to prepare a research paper on the plight of the Muslim community. That was much before the Sachar committee came into existence. By the time he had prepared the research paper, the plight of the community had made him more appalled than aware. “The community has increasingly lost the trust in the governance system due to their own vulnerability and sense of deprivation,” he says.

In the past one year, Saqib, who now works as the secretary general of the India-China Economic and Cultural Council, has taken considerable time out to focus on his initiative. His main aim is to make the small and unorganised businessmen and business groups aware of various government programmes and schemes. The plan ultimately is to connect small Muslim entrepreneurs with the national and international markets.

His plans

Not formally launched yet, MBC has already identified 20 industrial clusters in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi. In these clusters, 20 small entrepreneurs (one from each) have been identified and adopted; at present, the entrepreneurs are getting trained through local coordinator. 

After this, they will be provided first with the necessary identity papers, like ration cards, PAN cards, passports and artisan cards; their income tax returns will be filed and their companies will be registered. “If the company is not registered, then the business chamber will get it registered. If banks are not opening an account, we will deposit some money on their behalf. Initially, we will also file their income tax returns,” Saqib says. The emphasis, he says, is on connecting these entrepreneurs to the system to allow them to know it.

The organisation is preparing these entrepreneurs for a Chinese exhibition in June. “The chamber will do all the legwork that a business organisation needs. We will take everything to their shops. Their incomes will automatically increase. The whole idea is to provide them experience,” says Saqib.
It will be the first international exposure for small Muslim entrepreneurs. The MBC has also planned to appoint a consultant to help these entrepreneurs understand export and import orders and provide them exposure. In subsequent years, the businessmen will be trained in innovation.

Initially, the membership for these entrepreneurs is free of cost. But the MBC takes an undertaking that these entrepreneurs will help others.

While the organisation’s name might suggest that it’s limited to a community, Saqib insists it is purely secular. There are eight Hindu directors on the board, he says. “My intentions are clear. Basically, I am doing it for the Muslims because they are at the bottom of socio-economic indicators,” he concludes.