BANKING TRADE AND COMMERCE

RETAIL TRADE

Retail trade: In keeping with the evolutionary changes in the economic conditions, the pattern of consumption and distribution of goods underwent considerable changes. The changes in the consumption and distribution pattern in turn affected the structure of retail trade. The availability of transport facility, communication with cities and towns have also been instrumental in bringing about a new direction to retail transactions. As a result, a number of retail shops dealing in various essential commodities have come up in urban as well as in rural areas of the district and have decreased the dependence of the people on periodical markets and village fairs which dominated retail trade in the past. The population of towns such as Ahmadnagar, Shrirampur, Rahuri, Kopargaon, Sangamner, Akola, Jamkhed, Shrigonda, Shevgaon, Nevasa and Karjat has gone up considerably during the last twenty years and consequently the number of retail shops has also increased.

The retail traders especially in cloth, electrical appliances, engineering and hard-ware goods in the northern part of the district, viz., Shrirampur, Kopargaon, Rahuri and Sangamner talukas have direct connections with the traders in Bombay. The business is mainly conducted on cash basis. However the practice of allowing sale on credit for customers is not uncommon. Most of the retail shops are located at the taluka places and it is found that the villagers still attend the weekly bazars and fairs in large number to purchase the articles of their daily needs. The observations regarding retail trade in the district based on the information collected in the survey of some of the places are described below: —

Grocery, pan-bidi, cloth and vegetable shops are numerous and are scattered all over the district but they are found to be located in large number in urban areas than in the rural areas. Shops dealing in medicines, stationery, foot-wear, general merchandise, sweetmeats, fruits etc., are mainly concentrated in big towns. Shops dealing in jewellery, utensils, glass-ware, hard-ware and building materials are seen to be concentrated in particular localities of the towns. Retail shops generally have brisk trade during the season extending from October to June which period also includes fairs and festivals.

Grocery shops: Grocery shops form the largest single group of retail shops. There is a large number of grocers in every town or village. The articles sold in these shops are cereals, pulses, gur, sugar, oil, ghee, tea, coffee, ground-nut oil, cocoanut oil, hydrogenated oil, soap, etc. The grocers from taluka places buy grocery articles from Ahmadnagar, Pune and Nasik and other wholesale trade centres, while a few retail shop-keepers have direct trade relations with traders at Pune and Bombay. The stock-in-trade of individual shops varies from Rs. 500 to over a lakh of rupees. Many retail shops at Shrirampur, Kopargaon, Rahuri, Ahmadnagar and Nevasa have stock-in-trade worth over a lakh of rupees. In many of the retail shops two or more servants are employed.

Pan, Bidi, cigarettes and tobacco: Next in importance from the point of view of number are the pan-bidi, cigarettes and tobacco shops. Though they are very small establishments, they provide employment to a large number of persons. The number of pan-bidi shops is higher in Ahmadnagar, Shrirampur, Kopargaon, Sangamner, Nevasa, Jamkhed, Rahuri, Karjat and Shrigonda. The articles sold in these shops comprise betel-leaves, bidis, cigarettes, betel-nuts, catechu and sometimes confectionery. These articles are generally obtained from the agents of wholesalers.

TABLE No. 38—TURNOVER OF TRADE IN REGULATED COMMODITIES THROUGH CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN AHMADNAGAR DISTRICT IN 1968-69.

(Arrivals in quintals and value in rupees)

continued..

Cloth, ready-made clothes and hosiery: Shops belonging to this category are mainly concentrated in towns and big villages. Their number is larger in Ahmadnagar, Kopargaon, Shrirampur, Rahuri and Shirdi. These shops deal in all kinds of textiles, cotton, silk, nylon, terylene etc., as also shirtings, coatings, saris, dhotis, chaddars and shawls. The old type of Banarasi shaloos and Paithanis are out of vogue and have become out-dated at present. Their place has been taken by Bangalore silk, Kanjivaram silk and other such costly fabrics.

The bulk of the cloth is imported from Bombay, Ahmadabad, Madras, Kanpur, Malegaon, Coimbatore, Banaras, Bangalore, Sholapur and Ichalkaranji and is transported by railway. Hosiery goods and ready-made clothes are brought from Ludhiana, Dhariwal, Delhi, Jullunder and Kanpur.

Ahmadnagar, Shrirampur and Kopargaon are the important centres of cloth trade in the district. The margin of profit varies between 7 and 10 per cent for retail business and 3 per cent for wholesale trade. The business is brisk in the marriage and festival seasons and is slack during the rainy season. The transactions are generally on cash basis but exceptions to this are also found. The shops of this kind employ two to four persons on an average and they are paid between Rs. 90 and Rs. 200. A Wholesale Traders' Association of cloth merchants has been established at Ahmadnagar for redressing the grievances of its members.

Medicines and drugs: The number of shops of this type has increased with the growing health consciousness among the people as also with the availability of medical facilities in recent times. Almost every town and taluka place has a few medical stores. The largest number of shops of this type, viz., 12 are located in Ahmadnagar town followed by Kopargaon, Shrirampur, Rahuri and Sangamner. These shops deal in a variety of medicines and drugs, both allopathic and ayurvedic.

The bulk of the drugs and medicines are brought from Bombay, Baroda, Calcutta and Pune. Very often the goods are supplied to the shop-keepers by the representatives of the manufacturing companies. The manufacturers or their agents provide credit facilities to the shopkeepers whereas in certain cases the retailers do the business on commission basis. The rates of commission vary from 5 per cent to 16 per cent. The capital investment in an individual shop varies between Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 3 lakhs in case of big shops at Ahmadnagar, Kopargaon and Shrirampur whereas the same varies between Rs. 8,000 and Rs. 20,000 for shops in smaller towns. The net profit for a retailer ranges between 5 to 7 per cent. These shops generally employ two to four employees, on an average, who are paid between Rs. 60 and Rs. 200 per month.

Stationery and cutlery: With the spread of education and increase in the number of educational institutions, the number of stationery and cutlery shops has increased in the urban areas as also in big villages. At towns like Ahmadnagar, Shrirampur, Rahuri, Kopargaon, Shrigonda, Jamkhed and Sangamner, there are big stationery and cutlery shops. Ahmadnagar town has the largest number of this kind of shops in the district to be followed by Kopargaon and Shrirampur. These shops sell toilet articles, bangles, hosiery besides pencils, inks, nibs, fountain pens, note-books, prescribed books, etc. Stationery articles are brought from Pune and Bombay and sometimes from Ahmadabad, Delhi, Calcutta; paper from Titaghar, and cutlery and provision goods from Bombay. The small shop-keepers sometimes purchase their requirements from the shops at Ahmadnagar where wholesale transactions in this business are carried out. The stock-in-trade of these shops varies from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 15,000 in urban areas whereas the same varies between Rs. 500 and Rs. 3,000 in big villages. The margin of profits in this business is from 8 to 10 per cent. An average stationery shop-keeper is found to be employing one to three employees.

Hardware and building material: To meet the growing demand for building materials consequent upon the general increase in building activities the number of shops dealing in hard-ware and building materials has gone up in almost all towns in the district. Most of the shops of this category are mainly concentrated in urban centres. The growing concentration of these shops at Ahmadnagar, Shrirampur, Rahuri, Nevasa, Kopargaon and Sangamner is because of the growth of sugar factories in this region. These shops deal in beams, iron-sheets, chains, nails, bolts, screws, cast iron articles, buckets, pipes, pins, colour paints, cement etc., and a number of other articles required for construction works. Of the stock-in-trade, tools are brought from Jullunder; colour paints, pipes, nails and general hard-ware from Bombay and Pune; chains and nails from Delhi; cast iron from Agra; beams, buckets and iron-sheets from Calcutta and Bombay; and rest of the hard-ware from Punjab, Jullunder, Amritsar and Calcutta. The bulk of this merchandise is transported by railways while road transport is not uncommon. Usually the purchase transactions are done on 75 per cent cash basis and 25 per cent on bank credit basis. The capital investment in this business varies between Rs. 30,000 and 70,000. The annual turnover of these shops at Ahmadnagar was found to the tune of rupees eight lakhs in the year 1968-69, whereas the same at Shrirampur and Kopargaon was to the tune of rupees five to seven lakhs. The margin of profits in this business varies between 6 and 8 per cent on an average. The total number of shops of this kind is 15 at Ahmadnagar, ten at Shrirampur and 13 at Kopargaon. There is an Iron and Steel Merchants' Association at Ahmadnagar which co-ordinates the entire business in the district.

Utensils: The shops of this kind are mainly found to be located at urban centres such as, Ahmadnagar, Kopargaon, Shrirampur, Shirdi, Nevasa, Sangamner and Pathardi. These shops sell utensils made of stainless steel, bronze and aluminium. Most of the utensils are brought from Bombay, Muradabad, Jagadhari (Punjab), Gwalior, Jalesar (U. P.), Ratlam, Madras and Pune. The capital investment in these shops varies between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 50,000 and the turn-over amounts to over a lakh of rupees per annum. The margin of profit is between 8 and 12 per cent. On an average two or three persons are found to be employed in each shop.

Electrical goods and appliances: Trade in electrical appliances is primarily restricted to towns and big villages. The electrification of some of the rural areas has led to an increase in the number of general electrical shops in the district. The demand for radio sets, electrical fans, irons, water-heaters, table-lamps, cables and other electrical goods has increased considerably in recent times. The shops of this kind are mainly concentrated in Ahmadnagar, Kopargaon, Shrirampur and Rahuri. The required merchandise is brought mainly from Bombay and Pune. The capital investment in these shops is to the tune of Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 2,00,000 in case of big shops and Rs. 500 to Rs. 2,000 in case of small shops. The margin of profit varies between 10 and 15 per cent. Besides the owner, an average shop provides employment to one or two other workers.

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