The City Needs Them, But Doesn’t Want Them

 

The City's Invisible Workforce: The Struggle of India’s Street Vendors

By Sarah Khan

In the morning, as the city streets begin to fill with crowd, a vendor has already set up his stall. A vegetable seller is arranging his cart, a hawker is selling fruit, someone is preparing breakfast, and a street cobbler is repairing shoes and slippers on the footpath.

For the residents of the city, all this is part of daily routine. But for those whose livelihoods depend on these streets and footpaths, the city does not always feel like their own. The city needs them, but often there is no place for them in city planning.

In India, street vending is not merely a small-scale trade; it is a vital part of the urban informal economy. Yet, street vendors are often viewed through the lens of traffic, encroachment, and "cleanliness" issues, rather than as individuals who are creating their own livelihoods through hard work. Most of the street vendors do not have any stable income or paid leaves. Their business is dependent upon their capital, hard work, and location.

A vegetable vendor buys produce from the wholesale market in the morning, brings it to his cart, and then waits for customers all day long. His income is dependent upon his sales. If it rains, if the police or the municipal corporation takes action, or if the spot is lost, then the day's earnings could also be lost. This is why describing ‘street vending’ as merely ‘selling at the footpath’ grossly trivializes the reality of this work. This is a means of employment for those who may have limited opportunities to enter the formal labor market. This also provides the city’s residents an easy and affordable access of products.

When employment and "encroachment" converge in the same space

The biggest question for street vendors is often their location. On one side the city needs traffic on the roads, needs space to walk at the footpaths and it is necessary to keep public spaces clean and organised. On the other side, the same footpath is a shop for a vendor, his income and livelihood. If any vendor is removed from his location, then with the lens of the city, a footpath is perhaps cleared; but from the vendor’s lens, their place of livelihood has been lost.

This is why the question shouldn’t be whether vending should be allowed on roads or not. The question has to be: Can such cities be built where the livelihood of street vendors is respected alongside traffic and public safety?

The law granted rights to vendors, but what changed on the ground?

In 2014, India enacted Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act. It was aimed at protection of livelihood of street vendors, prevention of arbitrary harassment or evictions and regulation of street vending. Under this law, provisions such as surveys for vendor identification, vending certificates and Town Vending Committees were incorporated.  

Hence, the legal perspective wasn’t merely removing vendors from the streets; the objective was to protect their livelihoods while regulating vending activities. However, existence of a legal act and its implementation are two different things.

According to the government, the responsibility of identifying street vendors and issuing vending certificates lies with the states and urban local bodies. Here, the question of implementation comes up. If a vendor’s survey hasn’t been done, certificate hasn’t been received or designated vending zone hasn’t been created for him, then despite his rights existing on paper – how secure is his livelihood?

Launched in 2020, the PM SVANidhi scheme paved the way for providing small, collateral-free working capital loans to street vendors. By July 2026, 76.95 lakh street vendors had availed 1.15 crore loans under this scheme, amounting to a total of ₹18,475.06 crore. These figures show how major economic activity street vending is.

And the impact of the scheme was not limited to just the loans. According to an impact assessment for 2025 released by the government, the average annualised business income of PM SVANidhi borrowers increased by approximately 20 percent between 2023 and 2025. The study also found that for 95 percent of the beneficiaries surveyed in 2023, this was the first loan taken from a bank.

This makes us realise something crucial: Street vendors are not merely people deserving of assistance; if given the right opportunities, they can grow their businesses themselves.

Still the question of dignity remains

A vendor can get loan. He can accept digital payment. He can expand his business. But if tomorrow he’s removed from his vending place where he used to get his customers, then he might have to start again from scratch. This is one of the biggest challenge for street vendors – they may have a business, but the security of the premises where they conduct it is not always so clear- cut.

A corporate company gets lease for operating its office. A shopkeeper gets commercial space. But a street vendor's business often depends on a place he cannot truly call his own. Therefore, in the city’s development discussions, a hard question needs to be raised: Are we building cities that are meant only for those who possess formal property and formal employment?

What are cities for?

A better city doesn’t merely mean beautiful roads, big malls, flyovers and clean footpaths. City also belongs to those who are the first to brew tea in the morning, who serve breakfast to office-goers, who deliver vegetables to households, and who pay their children’s school fees by running small roadside stalls.

Allowing street vendors to vend anywhere without regulations is not the solution either. Rules regarding traffic, pedestrian safety, sanitation, and public spaces are essential. But there is a difference between regulation and removal.

If at any spot vending is not possible, then can vendor be given a suitable alternative?

Can vending zones really be created in locations where vendors also have customers?

Can local authorities give a real voice to vendors in their decision-making?

And most importantly – is it rightful to label a vendor as “encroacher” simply because their business doesn’t run in a permanent shop?

Employment with dignity

The story of street vending isn’t just a story of a poor. It’s also a story of hard work, entrepreneurship and urban inequality.

A vendor couldn’t secure a job at a registered company, so he started his own business. He invested his capital, took risks, built a customer base to support his family. Now, there is a need for implementation and ensuring urban planning to also recognize their livelihoods as an integral part of the city.

Because a city which remembers its street vendors only when it needs tea, breakfast, vegetables, or affordable services—yet forgets them when it comes to allocating space—is essentially evading a crucial question: Is there room in the city's progress for the people who keep its daily life running?