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BANKING TRADE AND COMMERCE
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PEDLARS AND HAWKERS
Pedlars are itinerary traders who go from place to place to sell petty articles in rural areas, while hawkers are the urban counterparts of the pedlars. These petty retailers occupied a place of importance in the pattern of trade in the past. In the absence of sufficient retail shops, they used to get a good patronage from the people. However, with an increase in the number of retail shops both in towns and villages, the dependence of the people on pedlars and hawkers decreased to a great extent.
The 1961 census recorded 1,262 pedlars and hawkers, of whom 1,130 were males and 132 females. Of the total number of 1,262 pedlars and hawkers, 817 were enumerated from the urban areas and the rest from rural areas.
They sell a variety of articles, such as fruits, dry fruits, groundnut oil, coconut oil, spices, vegetables, grocery articles, ready-made clothes, cloth, footwear, stationery and cutlery goods, etc. They purchase these articles from the towns. Some of them are professional artisans, such as, oilmen, weavers, shoemakers, gardeners, etc.
Some hawkers in towns use handcarts for transporting and selling their goods, while pedlars use bicycles, ponies and State Transport buses moving from place to place.
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