rediff.com
News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

Rediff.com  » Business » How street vendors make a living in India
This article was first published 12 years ago

How street vendors make a living in India

Last updated on: September 19, 2012 13:56 IST

Image: Rehman, a streetside vendor, wears a pair of illuminated devil's horns as he waits for customers to buy his toys outside a fair in Mumbai.
Photographs: Vivek Prakash/Reuters.

India's streets are bustling with small vendors who make brisk business.

However, with the government's decision to allow FDI in the retail sector, street vendors believe that it would badly hit their livelihood.

Calling the FDI decision a national disaster, the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) has called on street vendor unions across the country to protest against the central government's decision.

Take a look at vendors selling almost everything on Indian streets...

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Babu/Reuters.

Vendor Mohammed Ali waits for customers at his roadside stall selling antique gramophones and telephones, in Chennai.

...

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters.

A balloon seller takes a nap in front of the closed shops on the occasion of Eid-al-Fitr in the old quarters of Delhi.

...


Tags: , Delhi , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Mukesh Gupta/Reuters.

A vendor stands at his stall selling roasted corn by the roadside in Jammu. 

...


Tags: , Jammu , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Ahmad Masood/Reuters.

Vendors hold bags of cotton candy for sale as they look for customers in New Delhi.

...

Tags: , New Delhi , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters.

A woman sells vegetables at a roadside stall in front of a beauty salon in Mumbai.

...


Tags: , Mumbai , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters.

A woman wearing a mask blows bubbles as she sells toys at along the roadside in Mumbai.

...


Tags: , Mumbai , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Amit Dave/Reuters.

A vendor selling paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses waits for customers outside the Bhavnath temple during the Mahashivratri festival in Junagadh district, in Gujarat.

...


How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Altaf Hussain/Reuters.

A vendor serving tea in earthen cups waits for customers at the venue of the annual Literature Festival in Jaipur.

...


How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Parivartan Sharma/Reuters.

A vendor blows a toy balloon for sale on a street at Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi.

...


Tags: , New Delhi , Noida , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Fayaz Kabli/Reuters.

Kashmiri vendors selling "Kangris" or traditional firepots walk on a street on a cold day in Srinagar.

...


Tags: , Kashmiri , Srinagar , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Fayaz Kabli/Reuters.

Women selling vegetables in front of a shop wait for customers at a market in Leh, 443 km east of Srinagar.

...


Tags: , Leh , Srinagar , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters.

Vendors selling fruits and clothes wait for customers at their stalls under a parked truck, on a roadside in Kolkata.

...

Tags: , Kolkata , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Vivek Prakash/Reuters.

A streetside vendor uses cotton buds to clean the ears of another man in Mumbai.

...

Tags: , Mumbai , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Vivek Prakash/Reuters.

Nilesh, a streetside vendor, sits on the pavement next to his cow outside a temple in Mumbai.

...

Tags: , Mumbai , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Parivartan Sharma/Reuters.

A fruit vendor takes shelter under his cycle-stall during a monsoon shower in New Delhi.

...
 

Tags: , New Delhi , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters.

A vendor sells garlands of marigold flowers at a wholesale flower market ahead of Janamashtmi in Kolkata

...

Tags: , Janamashtmi , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Krishnendu Halder/Reuters.

A vendor plays a flute as he tries to attract people to buy flutes in front of 'Hawa Mahal', also known as 'Palace of Winds' in Jaipur.

...


Tags: , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Jayanta Dey/Reuters.

A man carries cane baskets along a roadside to sell them in a market in Nalchar village, about 76 km south of Agartala.

...


Tags: , Agartala , Nalchar , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Amit Dave/Reuters.

A vendor arranges umbrellas for sale on a roadside in Ahmedabad.

...

Tags: , Ahmedabad , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Fayaz Kabli/Reuters.

A vendor (L) fixes a set of artificial teeth into the mouth of a Kashmiri man at a roadside in Srinagar.

...


Tags: , Kashmiri , Srinagar , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters.

A candy seller walks past a couple sitting on a promenade in Mumbai.

...

Tags: , Mumbai , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Jayanta Shaw/Reuters.

A vendor waits for customers for his basket of ducks at a wholesale market in Kolkata.

....


Tags: , Kolkata , India

How street vendors make a living in India


Photographs: Desmond Boylan/Reuters.

A woman holds her child as she sells Indian national flags on the eve of India's Independence Day at a roadside in New Delhi.