"We also invest, gain profit and suffer loss": Street Vendors (Commerce)

"We also invest, gain profit and suffer loss": Street Vendors

Aurangabad, March 7, 2018: Street vendors have a say that whatever they do should also be counted in the business sector as they also do hard work all day long. There are many street vendors in the city of Aurangabad who feel as if they should be heard when talking about their business.

“I always do business with clean intentions and I own different business in different seasons. I have poor background and I do business in cash only.” Said Shaikh Ayyub, owner of Maharashtra Omlet Centre. He puts up his stall in N-6, CIDCO, Aurangabad. Continuing he said,” I do business of lemon tea, pineapple juice and lime juice in summer season for three months. In rainy season, I work as a labour and  perform loading/unloading work in Mondha. Then finally, in winters, I open my own omlet centre.” He experiences problems at night regarding night permissions as police officials don’t allow them to keep their stalls open. He experiences this problem when his business is in prime time and that’s something he suffers everyday.

He works from 5 pm to 11:30 pm every day in winters. He spends Rs. 1000 for one day and approximately gets Rs.500 as profit per day. Also, he suffers loss of Rs.200 daily because of wastage of groceries. He also allows students to pay after some time if they don’t have the money at the very same point. Shaikh Ayyub is 35 years old.

Harish Thakur, age 21, is the owner of Shiv Chat Bhandar located in front of MGM Medical College said that,” I have been running the stall since past 3 years and I generally experience problems with police officials as they again and again take my belongings under their custody. I invest Rs.1000 per day and usually get Rs. 500-700 as profit of the day. I also accept PayTM due to recent modernisation unlike many other stalls who don’t accept it. I buy raw material from different places and hence have no fixed place for it. I usually suffer loss of excessive grocery and as there is holiday to college and other places on Sunday, I don’t earn much and hence have to suffer loss on those days.” He works from morning 11 to evening 10.

Another street vendor, Ravindra Pakhre said,” I suffer from the same usual problem which is of encountering with police officials and municipality people. I require minimum of Rs. 1200 costing per day to run the stall on which I earn Rs. 1000 daily profit. At first I used to sell only two products but now I sell lots of products and I have developed within five years of my business. I, my dad and my brother run the stall and hence we never face shortage of anything as if we need anything, one of us roams the whole city and brings the required thing. Usually I don’t face loss now except Sundays and even on Sundays I earn at least how much I invest.” He works from morning 11 to night 10 to earn bread and butter.

All the street vendors face the same issue of police officials and permissions. They own the stalls and the hearts of the city in spite of the existing hotels in the city. People prefer to eat in the stalls of street vendors because of the affordability and tailor-made food. Street vendors also face daily loss and profit and say that whatever they do is also a kind of business.