In pics | Street vendors struggle in Mumbai as customers stay away and govt help seems far

SUMMARY

CNBC-TV18 ventured out on Mumbai streets to find out the ground reality of now hawkers were doing business, given that the government has initiated the Pradhan Mantri SVANidhi Scheme to help them get easy loans.

By Ritu Singh Jul 10, 2020 8:26:48 AM IST (Published)

With the government taking initiatives to open up the economy and allowing small shops and street vendors to begin operations after almost three months of a nationwide lockdown, several small vendors are back in business after losing out on their livelihoods overnight. To further help them, the Centre announced the Pradhan Mantri SVANidhi Scheme under which street vendors can avail loans of up to Rs 10,000 that are repayable over a one-year period. The scheme has finally operationalised and CNBC-TV18 ventured out on Mumbai streets to find out what the ground reality is about the business of these street vendors. Here's a look these photos for a detailed view.

Mumbai's otherwise bustling street market at Linking Road in Bandra wore a deserted look on Thursday. The market opened was given permission to partly open around two weeks back, but has not seen too many footfalls over the period.

The shops on Linking Road are allowed to open on alternate days so that social distancing is maintained.

Shops on either side of the road are open on odd/even days as per the SOP issued by the state government. But the problem of footfalls continues as customers are few and far.

Abdul Sattar Khan who runs a shoe shop on Linking Road said that business has never been this bad in almost two decades that he has been running his shop. Khan admitted that he has lost a few lakh worth of revenue due to the lockdown, and has emptied out his savings to get by these past few months.

Mohd Saif (in the green jacket extreme right) who has been working as a shoe salesman for some time now said that the past few months were tough as he had no income. He explained that as many as five families depend on the shop to earn money. Although he was in the city for the duration of the lockdown as he's a Mumbaikar, his fellow salesmen had to leave and head back to their hometowns as they were not getting any salary.

The state government's dictate on travel within only 2 km of a citizen's residence has also kept customers at bay, vendors said. "If they can't get out of homes, customers will fall back on e-commerce websites like Myntra or Flipkart to make purchases. In such a scenario, how can we small vendors earn?" questioned another shop owner. The onset of monsoons has made matters worse.

The situation is worse in Hill Road in Bandra, which used to be a hotspot for shoppers, with most shops keeping their shutters down. This despite small vendors being allowed to open on alternate days.

On a normal day, Hill Road is packed with shoppers and street vendors fighting for space to sell all sorts of accessories, clothes, shoes to customers.

Now that business has come to a standstill, street vendors at Hill Road said that many of their friends who ran similar shops have packed up and have gone back home. Those who remain state that they’re happy if just two-three customers visit them during the day.

Another vendor, Anzarul Haque claimed that he had lost Rs 2.5 to Rs 3 lakh of business over the past months. Like many other shop owners, he said that his family's goodwill helped him survive the lockdown with no livelihood. Haque said that he was not aware of any government scheme that was providing loans to street vendors like him.

Wahid, who sells clothes on Hill Road, said that he did fill up a form that was provided by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for a Rs 10,000 loan under the PM SVANidhi Scheme. Although he said the losses he has incurred run into several lakhs or rupees, he stressed, "Every rupee I can get now, I will be grateful for."

Akram Khan, who works at Wahid's shop, said that business had fallen to Rs 3,000 per day and with the onset of the monsoon season, customers would further dwindle. Khan lamented that the owner of the shop had applied for a loan under the scheme, but was not sure if the application was even processed.

With hardly any customers coming to their stalls, vendors are seen taking a break and one of them said: "Bhagwan kare ye corona jald hi chala jaye, hum kab tak karza chukate rahenge?" (Wish that we soon get rid of this coronavirus, until when will we have to live in debt).