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BANKING TRADE AND COMMERCE
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HAWKERS
Hawkers like pedlars in rural areas play an important part in the retail trade in municipal towns. Though organised trading activities due to urbanisation, and the resultant evolution of shops have limited the scope of the hawking trade, the hawkers continue to sell a variety of goods of daily consumption. They sell comparatively cheaper articles of every day use, viz., peppermints, sugarcane juice, utensils, spices, fruits, dry fruits, sweetmeats, toys, agarbattis, cloth, jaggery, bangles, ice candy, bhel puri, groundnuts, milk products, stationery and cutlery goods, footwear, etc.
There were 411 hawkers in Dhulia town in 1963-64 selling a wide variety of articles of daily use. The hawkers do brisk business near cinema theatres, schools, and market places. The Dhulia municipal authorities have regulated the hawking trade by issuing licences to the hawkers. In 1963-64, there were 23 hawkers in Shirpur, 15 in Shahada and 7 in Taloda town. But neither of these municipalities has issued any licence to the hawkers.
The business of the hawkers is more or less of a seasonal character, the business being brisk during the fair season. Some of them belong to professional classes such as oilmen, gardeners, attars and halwais.
Now-a-days, however, the consumers who formerly used to patronise hawkers, show a preference for established shops.
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