An impact-based report on how COVID-19 has affected the unorganized sector of the Indian economy.

1. IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON STREET
VENDORS

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1-INTRODUCTION
2-WHAT IS INFORMAL ECONOMY?
3-IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON STREET VENDORS
3.1-NEGATIVE IMPACTS
3.2-POSITIVE IMPACTS
4-RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
5-SURVEY ANALYSIS-1(DIRECT SURVEYS)
6-SURVEY ANALYSIS-2(SURVEYS FROM TEXT)
7- MARKET DYNAMICS IN TIMES OF COVID-19
8-ECONOMIC AND NON-ECONOMIC IMPACTS
9-CONCLUSION

3. INTRODUCTION
 The COVID-19 pandemic has taken the country by storm. All of
its economic activities have suddenly come to a halt and the
econonomy has contracted largely.
 The economies of more than 100-plus countries have been
destroyed out of which some of them have asked for monetary
help from the IMF.
 Businesses across the world comprising hospitality,
entertainment,aviation etc. have seen a major negative impact.
 Various sporting events such as IPL and the Olympics have
been postponed indefinitely.
 The pandemic has also disrupted the functioning of various
online giants such as the major e-commerce platforms like
Amazon,Flipkart,Myntra etc.

4.  The Indian Economy contracted by almost an
unprecedented 23.9% to a plunging technical
recession,the trajectory of India’s economy saw a steep
decline in 2020.
 Barring agriculture,all other major indicators of growth
in the economy were massively impacted.The worst
affected sectors were massively impacted.
 The worst affected sectors were
construction,trade,hotels,manufacturing and mining.
 It is relevant to note that these sectors that generate the
maximum new jobs in the country.
 According to Nomura India Business Resumption Index
economic activity fell from 82.9 on 22 March to 44.7 on
26 April.

5. What is informal economy?
 An informal economy(informal sector or grey economy) is
the part of any economy that is neither taxed nor
monitored by any form of government.
 It provides critical economic opportunities for the poor and
has been expanding since the 1960s.
 The informal sector consists of enterprises which are
labour intensive.
 Low-skilled labourers who are desperate enough to work
for miserly wages in order to meet their substance
requirements largely contribute the labour force of
unorganised economic activities.

6.  The informal sector despite being a huge contributor to
India’s GDP,is often neglected when it comes to supportive
policies especially in times of crises.
 It is basically responsible for the country’s developmental
progress since large masses of workers who would
otherwise get unemployed are getting work.
 According to a study by Credit Suisse in 2018,the cause of
social divide is due to the fact that the richest 10% Indians
own about 80% of the country’s wealth while the less
privileged only have less than 5%.

7.  It obstructs the eradication of poverty,therefore leads to a
uptick in various forms of crimes every year.

8. The impacts of COVID-19 on street
vendors
NEGATIVE IMPACTS
 Fruits and vegetable vendors,owing to massive losses to
livelihood,tried to venture out to sell after a couple of days,but
faced strict police harrasment.
 The risk of doing business has gone up significantly,owing to ill-
hygenic practices in the times of COVID-19.
 The vendors do not have access to wholesale markets and
suppliers thus having to spend more on travel costs due to travel
resrtictions in place in the city.
 The demand for buying groceries physically from vendors went
down drastically owing to ill-hygenic conditions and fear of
COVID-19.

9.  The increased fear of the spread of the virus led consumers
to buy groceries from digital outlets such as
Grofers,BigBasket etc.
 The stimulus package introduced by the government has
not been so helpful for the vendors,since the governmnet
has provided for a credit loan to provide an initial working
capital of Rs.10000/-
 Instead if it would have been a direct income benefit or a
cash grant the results would have been better.
 The pandemic has been very harsh on the informal workers
who have exhausted their capital and earnings.

11. POSITIVE IMPACTS OF COVID-19
 Vendors were made aware of the hygenic and proper
sanitization practices they should follow during the
times of COVID-19.
 After the lockdown was eased,they knew in order to
thrive they ought to follow sanitization and social-
distancing norms.
 It somehow improved the hygenic practices which
were not followed before the pandemic hit.

12.  People of India were clear about the fact that although the
organised sector rules,the informal economy is relatively as
important for their survival since we are so dependent
upon it.
 Consumers who were earlier hesitant to follow hygenic
practices after buying groceries were now considering
hand-washing and sanitization practices.
 The informal economy,although an unorganised sector was
considered important by the government since people were
so dependent on them and also provided jobs to millions of
people.

14. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 Area covered:-Ispat Market and Ispat Haat(also known as
Jharkand Market) of Rourkela,Odisha
 Area of Study(types of vendors covered):-Fast food
vendors,Chaat vendors,Pani-Puri vendors,fresh vegetables
and fruit vendors,cloth vendors,shoe vendors and mobile
accesory vendors.
 Number of respondents covered:-34
 Primary Survey:-Direct survey through questionnares to
vendors
 Secondary survey:-Surveys obtained through texts and
internet

15. SURVEY ANALYSIS-1(DIRECT
SURVEY)
 Gender
 Vendors reactions translated to English
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS
MALE 57%
FEMALE 43%
SURVEY RESPONSES PERCENTAGE
BREAKING/WITHDRAWAL OF FD(SAVINGS) 16%
CUTTING DOWN ON CHILD’S EDUCATION DUE TO HIGH FEES 38%
CHILDREN WORKING ALONG WITH THEM HOPING EXTRA SALES 18%
FORCED TO RELY ON SELLING ESSENTIAL GOODS(e.g. FRUITS AND
VEGETABLES)
13%

16. SURVEY RESPONSES PERCENTAGE
INCREASE IN PETTY CRIMES LIKE STEALING FOR SURVIVAL 7%
DOMESTIC ABUSE AND HARASSMENT(BY LADY VENDORS) 8%

17. EFFECTS POST LOCKDOWN PERIOD
(DIRECT SURVEY-2)
 Vendor responses
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS
MALE 57%
FEMALE 43%
SURVEY RESPONSES PERCENTAGE
EASING OF CURBS LEAD TO SLIGHT INCREASE
IN SALES
24%
VENDORS WERE TAUGHT HOW TO OPERATE POST
LOCKDOWN ADHERING TO SOCIAL DISTANCING AND
SANITIZATION NORMS
21%
CIRCLULAR MARKS WITH 6 FEET DISTANCE WERE MADE
AS A PREVENTIVE MEASURE
31%
VENDORS HAD TO BE EXTRA-CAUTIOUS WHILE
RETURNING HOMES SO THAT FAMILY MEMBERS REMAIN
SAFE
24%

19. SECONDARY SURVEY
 Street vendors have been severely hit across states.Markets being
shut down means they have no income and so they have been
mobile vendors.
 The Indian governmnet launched Rs.5000 crore special micro-
credit facility for nearly 50 lakh vendors.
 This credit linkage facility would provide an initial working
capital of Rs. 10000.
 Schneider and Enste(2003) estimate that the informal sector
represents 10-20% of global output of developing countries.
 The figures reported by the International Labour organisation
are the same magnitude-48% in non-agricultural employment

20. in North Africa,51% in Latin America,65% in Asia,and 72%
in Sub-Saharan Africa.
 The proportions of regular/wage salaried earners
accounted for 12.81% of rural households.In urban
India,the corresponding figures were 37.57%,12.68% and
41.66%

21. Market dynamics during COVID-19
CHANGES IN MARKET LOCATION
 New changes have been introduced by the governmnt
regarding market place locations in order to abide by social-
distancing measures.
 Public places such as school playgrounds and parks had been
converted into makeshift market places for vendors.
CHANGES IN NUMBER OF VENDORS
 The number of vendors had increased due to shift in
occupations.Auto-rickshaw drivers and daily-wage labourers
were selling fruits and vegetables in order to earn a living.

22. SECURITY CONCERNS
 Vendors were concerned that crime rates might increase as
the sudden loss of money may drive people to commit petty
crimes.

24. ECONOMIC AND NON-ECONOMIC
IMPACTS
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
 A world which buzzed with activities has fallen silent and
all resources have been diverted to meeting the never-
experienced befor crises.
 A 2019 joint report from WHO and the World Bank
estimated the impact of such a pandemic at 2.2% to 4.8%
of global GDP.This prediction seems to have come true,as
we see the world getting engulfed by this crisis.
 According to the policy responses by the Individual Labour
Organization(ILO),it was explained that the crisis had
already transformed into an economic and labour market
shock.

25. NON ECONOMIC IMPACTS
 Hygenic practices like washing of hands and proper
cleaning are being followed by vendors as well as
consumers.
 It was well understood by the government that the
informal/unorganised sector plays a significant role in the
Indian economy.
 Domestic abuse and harrasment reports increased during
this time due to frustration about sources of livelihood.
 Petty crimes such as stealing increased owing to
uncertainty of livelihood for daily-wage/low-income
labourers.

26. CONCLUSION
 According to International Labour
Organisation(ILO),it is estimated that globally more
than 25 million jobs are at risk due to the COVID-19
outbreak.
 The ILO describes in its report as the worst global
crisis since World War 2.It is estimated that 4 in evey 5
people(81%) of the global workforce of 3.3 billion are
currently affected by lockdown in various countries.
 Most of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable
people live and work in the informal economy.

27.  The vulnerability of informal workers is strongly
influenced by their social status and their capabilities.
 These capabilities are issues of public intervention in
the fields of education,housing and sanitization.
 Warranted by the magnitude of the current crisis,India
has to ensure a wider reach of amenities to both
impose living and protect livelihoods.

28. THANK YOU