Synopses & Reviews
This book is the product of a study conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Ministry of Urban Housing and Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA). Its objective is to highlight some of the problems faced by street vendors in conducting their daily business and to examine how financial institutions, especially those in the banking sector, can include street vendors in their credit policies. Data was collected from 15 cities across the country. Not surprisingly, while issues such as public space utilisation have been deliberated upon at length, those concerning the nature of credit transactions and concurrently the financial inclusion of street vendors have scarcely received focussed attention. In the absence of formal credit, street vendors largely depend on loan sharks, who charge high interest rates ranging from 350% to 800% per annum.
About the Author
Sharit Bhowmik is Professor and Chairperson, Centre for Labour Studies, Tata institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He has been engaged in research on informal employment, especially street vendors, for the past 15 years. He was a member of the National Task Force on Street Vendors and of the Drafting Committee for the National Policy (2004) appointed by the Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation (now renamed the Ministry of Housing and Poverty Alleviation). He has edited a volume on Street Vendors in the Global Urban Economy (Routledge, 2010) and published a book titled Industry, Labour and Society (Orient Blackswan, 2012). He has also published several articles in peer reviewed journals and as chapters in books on labour, informal economy and worker co-operatives, as well as a monograph on tea plantation labour.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction: Street Vendors in the Urban Economy.- Chapter 2: The Field: Profile of the Cities.- Chapter 3: Why do Street Vendors Need Finance?.- Chapter 4: Sources of Finance.- Chapter 5: How Can Financial Institutions Help Out?.- Chapter 6: Recommendations and Conclusion.