Commerce The streets, station approaches, haats, bus stands, hospital gates, school corridors, neighbourhood crossings and peri-urban roads of Mithila, Vajji and Anga sustain a dense economy that conventional city histories often understate. Street vending is only its most visible layer. The wider informal economy includes own-account retail, food preparation, repair, transport services, loading, recycling, home-based production, petty contracting, domestic services and tiny workshops whose transactions may be legal and socially indispensable even when the enterprise is unincorporated, weakly registered or outside standard employment protections. Informality therefore describes an institutional condition, not a moral category. This chapter follows the historical movement from periodic markets and mobile petty trade to contemporary urban and peri-urban commerce. It treats public space, credit, transport, migration, household labour and municipal regulation as parts of one system. Current statistics are used cautiously: a self-employed worker is not necessarily a street vendor, an unincorporated enterprise is not necessarily unregistered, and informal employment can exist inside a formally registered enterprise. These distinctions are essential if the region’s everyday economy is to be reconstructed without collapsing different forms of work into a single residual category. 105.1 Informality is an institutional relationship, not a synonym for illegality An enterprise may be lawful yet small, unincorporated, family-run and only partly registered; a worker may hold an informal job inside a formal establishment; and a street vendor may possess a certificate while still lacking stable social protection. Conversely, an activity can violate a specific zoning, licensing or traffic rule without making the worker’s livelihood intrinsically criminal. Historical analysis should therefore separate legal status, registration, employment protection, tax treatment, premises and access to public space. The category “informal” is useful only when the institutional dimension being described is made explicit. 105.2 Periodic haats form the deep historical infrastructure beneath modern street commerce Before permanent retail streets became dense, periodic haats coordinated exchange among cultivators, craft producers, livestock sellers, fishers, itinerant traders and consumers. Their periodicity reduced the cost of maintaining a permanent shop while concentrating demand on known days. Many present market corridors preserve this logic even when the settlement is legally urban: weekly peaks, festival surges and agricultural seasons continue to shape trading hours and product mixes. The historical continuity lies less in an unchanged marketplace than in the recurring institutional solution of assembling dispersed producers and buyers at predictable nodes. 105.3 Street commerce converts footfall into a productive asset For a small vendor the decisive input is often not a building but access to moving people. Railway stations, bus stands, schools, hospitals, courts, temples, administrative offices and wholesale markets generate predictable flows of passengers, attendants and workers. A tea stall or fruit cart locates itself where this demand becomes dense enough to support rapid turnover. This helps explain repeated conflict over pavements and station approaches: the same space simultaneously serves movement, safety, drainage, access HISTORY OF MITHILA, VAJJI & ANGA — VOLUME II and livelihood. Urban design that recognises only circulation misses the economic value created by proximity to footfall. 105.4 Low fixed costs make petty trade an entry point for migrants and households with little capital A permanent shop requires rent, deposit, fittings, inventory and often documentation. A mobile cart, basket, mat, temporary stall or shared counter can begin with far less capital and can adapt location and stock to changing demand. Such flexibility is especially important for recent migrants, women combining paid work with household responsibilities, older workers, and families recovering from crop loss or debt. Entry is easier, however, than accumulation. Low barriers also create intense competition, narrow margins and frequent business turnover, so livelihood security cannot be inferred merely from the ability to start trading. 105.5 The informal urban economy is a network connecting production, transport, vending and consumption A vegetable vendor depends on cultivators, aggregators, wholesale markets, transporters, storage, credit and waste disposal; a street-food seller depends on grain, fuel, utensils, water and daily provisioning; a repair worker depends on spare-part networks and customer mobility. The visible point of sale is therefore the final node of a longer value chain. Some links are formal and others informal, and a single commodity can move repeatedly across that boundary. Analysing the network rather than the vendor alone shows why transport disruption, wholesale prices, floods, policing or digital payment systems can alter earnings far from the place where the final transaction occurs. Figure 416 — Urban informal commerce links producers, transport nodes, vendors, consumers, credit, regulation and digital systems 105.6 Fresh food vending shortens the distance between wholesale supply and household consumption Vegetables, fruit, fish, milk products and prepared food are time-sensitive commodities. Street and neighbourhood vendors provide frequent small-quantity purchasing close to homes and workplaces, reducing the need for consumers to travel to a central market. In the flood-prone and transport-variable environments of north Bihar and the Nepal Tarai, this distributed retail system also adjusts quickly to supply shocks. Yet perishability exposes vendors to losses when rain, heat, traffic restriction or sudden eviction interrupts sales. The same flexibility that makes fresh-food vending efficient also transfers much of the risk to the smallest trader. 10611061 GAJENDRA THAKUR 105.7 Informal transport services are both livelihoods and market-making infrastructure Cycle-rickshaws, e-rickshaws, shared autos, handcarts, loaders and small goods vehicles connect residential lanes, villages, stations, markets and hospitals. Their economic role exceeds passenger movement: they enlarge the catchment of small shops, enable workers to commute, carry market purchases and permit vendors to replenish stock in small batches. Informal transport is therefore complementary to commerce. Regulation focused solely on congestion can miss this productive function, while completely unmanaged stopping and parking can impose serious costs on pedestrians and public transport. The historical problem is coordination, not simply elimination. 105.8 Repair and maintenance economies extend the life of household assets Cobblering, tailoring, bicycle repair, mobile-phone repair, electrical work, welding, utensil repair and small mechanical services convert skill and proximity into income with limited premises. In lower-income households, repair competes economically with replacement and can keep bicycles, fans, pumps, phones and clothing in use for years. These occupations also demonstrate why informality cannot be reduced to retail. Much of the street economy sells labour, knowledge and rapid response rather than goods. As consumer durables spread, new repair specialisations emerge, even while mass-produced low-cost goods can undermine older crafts. 105.9 Home-based work blurs the boundary between household and enterprise Food processing, stitching, embroidery, packaging, incense preparation, small-scale craft production and other activities can be organised from rooms or courtyards that also serve domestic functions. The household thereby saves rent but absorbs business risks into residential life. Women’s labour is especially liable to become statistically invisible when production is combined with cooking, care or unpaid family work. Home-based work may feed street retail through subcontractors or family members who sell outside. The production site and selling site are thus often different nodes of one household enterprise. 105.10 Caste and inherited occupation matter historically, but the contemporary economy cannot be mapped mechanically onto caste Many service and craft occupations have histories of hereditary transmission, social ranking and community specialisation. Yet migration, education, technological change, commodity markets and new forms of self-employment continually reorganise who performs particular work. A modern vending cluster may contain members of many castes and religions, while a historically specialised occupation may survive through wage labour or entrepreneurship outside the originating community. The appropriate method is to document particular occupational histories and barriers rather than assume a timeless one-to-one correspondence between caste name and economic function. 105.11 Gender shapes location, hours, commodity choice and exposure to risk Women’s informal work is often selected around care responsibilities, norms of mobility, access to capital and safety. Home-based production, food vending and neighbourhood retail may allow work close to the household, but proximity can also limit access to higher-footfall sites and longer trading hours. Lack of toilets, lighting, childcare and secure storage imposes gendered costs in public markets. Women may additionally appear as unpaid helpers in family enterprises even when their labour is essential to HISTORY OF MITHILA, VAJJI & ANGA — VOLUME II procurement, preparation, accounts or sales. Gender analysis must therefore measure control over income as well as participation. 105.12 Bihar’s urban labour market shows why self-employment is central to the regional urban economy The Periodic Labour Force Survey 2023–24 reported that 53.3 per cent of urban male workers in Bihar in usual status were self-employed, compared with 29.1 per cent in regular wage or salaried work and 17.6 per cent in casual labour. These figures do not measure street vendors; self-employment includes a much wider range of occupations and enterprises. Their value is contextual. They show that urbanisation in Bihar cannot be narrated as a transition from agriculture directly into stable salaried employment. Own-account work and household enterprise remain central mechanisms through which urban livelihoods are organised. Figure 417 — Bihar, PLFS 2023–24: self-employment accounted for more than half of urban male workers in usual status 105.13 The unincorporated sector is large enough to be a structural component of India’s economy The Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises 2025 estimated 7.92 crore unincorporated non-agricultural establishments and 12.81 crore workers across manufacturing, trade and other services in India. Trade alone accounted for about 2.42 crore establishments. National figures cannot be transferred mechanically to Mithila, Vajji and Anga, but they establish the scale of the institutional world within which the region’s petty commerce operates. Small unincorporated establishments are not statistical noise around a formal core; they are a major form of production, trade and service organisation. 105.14 Working capital turns over quickly, making access to small loans disproportionately important A petty trader may buy stock in the morning and repay a wholesaler or lender after the day’s sales. The absolute amount of capital can be small while its daily availability is decisive. Without savings or bank credit, vendors historically rely on wholesalers, relatives, rotating savings, moneylenders or advance arrangements that can embed costly dependency. Formal microcredit can lower financing costs, but repayment schedules that ignore seasonality or weather shocks may create new stress. The relevant question is therefore not only whether credit exists, but whether its timing, transaction cost and flexibility fit the cash cycle of the enterprise. 10631063 GAJENDRA THAKUR 105.15 The Street Vendors Act 2014 recast vending as a livelihood that must be regulated through representation and survey India’s Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 created a framework in which identification, Certificates of Vending, Town Vending Committees and vending plans are central instruments. The law does not abolish regulation; it seeks to combine livelihood protection with management of public space. Surveys are meant to prevent arbitrary exclusion by making the vendor population legible to urban government. Implementation nevertheless depends on state rules, local surveys, committee functioning and the actual design of vending zones. A protective statute can therefore coexist with uneven everyday security. 105.16 Public-space regulation produces conflict because different legitimate uses overlap A pavement is simultaneously a pedestrian route, an access strip for shops and residences, a location for utility infrastructure and, in many places, a market. Roads must carry traffic but station forecourts and bus stands also generate the customers on whom vendors depend. Fire access, sanitation and disability access impose non-negotiable spatial requirements. The policy challenge is therefore to allocate space transparently and at realistic locations. A vending zone with no footfall can formally regularise a trader while economically destroying the business; unregulated occupation of a narrow path can equally exclude pedestrians. 105.17 Eviction risk changes investment behaviour even when day-to-day earnings appear adequate A vendor who expects removal may avoid durable carts, improved storage, shade or hygienic equipment because these investments could be lost. Insecure tenure also encourages minimal inventory and dependence on mobile assets. The result is a productivity trap generated by uncertainty rather than lack of effort. Predictable regulation can therefore improve both livelihoods and streetscape by giving traders an incentive to invest in cleaner, safer and more durable facilities. Security need not mean permanent private possession of public land; it can mean clear rules, renewable permissions, due process and designated operating times. 105.18 Municipal fees and documentation can formalise a relationship without converting a microenterprise into a large firm Formalisation is not an all-or-nothing transformation. A vendor may obtain identification, a vending certificate, a bank account, digital payment history, food-safety training or social-protection enrolment while remaining a one-person business. This incremental path matters because the costs of full commercial premises, complex taxation or accounting may be disproportionate to turnover. Effective policy creates a ladder of compliance suited to enterprise scale. It also recognises that the purpose of registration is not merely revenue collection but access to rights, finance, public services and enforceable responsibilities. 105.19 PM SVANidhi made formal working-capital credit a large-scale street- vendor policy instrument Launched in 2020 and restructured in 2025, PM SVANidhi provides collateral-free progressive working- capital loans to eligible street vendors, with current tranches up to ₹15,000, ₹25,000 and ₹50,000. By 27 August 2026 the Government of India reported 78.68 lakh vendors accessing more than 1.18 crore loans worth ₹19,171 crore. The historical significance lies not only in the volume of credit but in the attempt to HISTORY OF MITHILA, VAJJI & ANGA — VOLUME II connect vending to formal banking, digital transaction histories, social-protection linkages and local- government identification. Scheme participation, however, should not be equated with the total vendor population. Figure 418 — PM SVANidhi combines a progressive loan ladder with financial and digital inclusion 105.20 Digital payments reduce cash friction but do not automatically remove informality QR codes and mobile payments allow very small traders to receive exact amounts, reduce the need for change and build transaction records that can support access to credit. They also create new dependencies on phones, connectivity, account access, fraud prevention and platform rules. A digitally paid transaction may still occur in an unincorporated enterprise with no employment protection. Digitalisation therefore changes the infrastructure of informality rather than simply abolishing it. Its strongest benefits appear when payment access is combined with financial literacy, grievance mechanisms and affordable working capital. 105.21 Migrant and seasonal vendors make the urban economy responsive to agricultural and festival calendars A worker may cultivate during part of the year and vend, transport or perform casual urban services during another. Others move between towns according to fairs, pilgrimage seasons, marriage periods, harvests or construction cycles. This circulation allows households to diversify income without permanent relocation. It also makes vendor surveys difficult because a population counted on one date may omit seasonal traders. Policy frameworks that assume every livelihood is permanently attached to one municipality risk excluding precisely those workers whose economic strategy depends on mobility. 105.22 Street food connects livelihood, public health and cultural economy Tea, snacks, sweets, cooked meals and regionally specific foods create low-cost eating infrastructure for students, passengers, workers, patients’ attendants and shoppers. Street food also carries local culinary repertoires into urban public space. Because food is consumed immediately, water quality, handwashing, waste, storage, temperature and contamination are serious public-health concerns. The appropriate historical and policy response is not to romanticise or prohibit the sector, but to combine training, water, waste facilities and proportionate inspection with livelihood security. Food safety improves most effectively when vendors can invest in stable equipment and clean operating sites. 10651065 GAJENDRA THAKUR 105.23 Waste picking and recycling reveal an environmental service hidden inside precarious work Collectors, sorters, scrap dealers and itinerant buyers recover paper, metal, plastics, glass and reusable goods from the urban waste stream. Their earnings depend on volatile material prices and access to collection points, while occupational exposure can be severe. Yet the activity reduces the volume reaching dumps and returns materials to production. Municipal waste systems that displace informal recyclers without integrating their knowledge can lose both livelihoods and recovery capacity. A just transition requires safer handling, protective equipment, recognised collection arrangements and routes into more secure recycling enterprises. 105.24 Credit, regulation and digitalisation can reinforce one another when formalisation is designed as a ladder A survey or certificate can establish identity; identity can open access to a bank loan; digital transactions can create a financial history; social-protection enrolment can reduce the household impact of illness or accident; training can improve food safety or business practice. The sequence is cumulative when each step lowers risk rather than merely adding paperwork. The reverse is also possible: documentation barriers can exclude mobile vendors, debt can outpace earnings, and digital fraud can undermine trust. Institutional design therefore matters more than the abstract goal of “formalisation”. 105.25 Floods, heat and monsoon rain are direct business risks for street economies The region’s climate turns weather into a daily balance-sheet variable. Heavy rain reduces footfall, damages stock and makes unpaved or poorly drained market sites unusable. Floods interrupt wholesale supply and transport, while extreme heat threatens workers standing for long hours without shade or drinking water and can spoil food rapidly. Because many vendors hold little insurance and thin savings, several lost trading days can trigger debt. Urban resilience planning should therefore include covered market space, drainage, water, heat protection, safe storage and emergency livelihood support rather than treating vendors as external to infrastructure policy. 105.26 Education and health clusters generate specialised informal economies around institutions Universities, colleges, coaching centres, hospitals and courts create demand for photocopying, stationery, food, lodging, transport, document assistance and low-cost retail. Such clusters demonstrate how formal institutions generate surrounding informal employment. Their workers are not economically separate from the institutions; they help make attendance affordable and practical. Hospital attendants need cheap meals and temporary accommodation; students need printing and transport; litigants need copying and document services. Planning institutional campuses without recognising these complementary markets often pushes necessary services into unsafe or congested spaces. 105.27 Janakpur and Birgunj place Madhesh’s informal commerce within both urban and cross-border circuits The Nepal Tarai’s major cities combine local retail with pilgrimage, transport, wholesale distribution and India–Nepal border exchange. The World Bank’s 2024–25 Informal Sector Enterprise Survey included both Janakpur and Birgunj among eight surveyed cities, allowing the informal business environment of Madhesh HISTORY OF MITHILA, VAJJI & ANGA — VOLUME II to enter a comparative national frame. Border proximity can expand markets and supply choices while also exposing traders to currency, customs, transport and regulatory differences. Informal commerce should therefore be analysed as part of a transnational interaction zone rather than solely within municipal boundaries. 105.28 Nepal demonstrates the scale of informal employment and the diversity of informal business premises Nepal’s Labour Force Survey 2017/18 estimated that 84.6 per cent of employment was informal, including informal jobs both inside and outside informal-sector enterprises. A newer World Bank survey of 2,535 informal businesses in eight cities found a heterogeneous geography: 42.0 per cent of sampled firms operated from permanent non-household premises, 23.6 per cent from households, 13.3 per cent from temporary stalls or stands, and 21.2 per cent from non-fixed premises including hawkers. The sample is not a national population estimate, but it shows that urban informality ranges from visible street trade to fixed and home-based enterprise. Figure 419 — Nepal’s 2024–25 informal-enterprise survey shows fixed, household, temporary and non-fixed premises 105.29 Better policy treats vendors as economic actors while protecting mobility, safety and public access The strongest regulatory approach begins with an accurate survey, representative Town Vending Committees where applicable, transparent allocation rules, realistic vending locations, sanitation, storage, water, lighting and grievance procedures. It also preserves pedestrian movement, emergency access and disability rights. Credit and digital tools work best when they supplement rather than substitute for spatial governance. The objective is not a street without vendors or a street without rules, but an urban commons in which livelihood, circulation and public health are negotiated through institutions that are predictable enough for both traders and other users. 105.30 Informal commerce is the everyday operating system of regional urbanisation Chapter 104 described a polycentric and peri-urban settlement system. This chapter shows how that system functions at ground level. Informal traders distribute food, connect wholesale markets to neighbourhoods, repair household assets, move passengers, recycle materials and create services around stations, schools, hospitals and pilgrimage sites. Their flexibility absorbs migrants and household labour, while their insecurity reveals gaps in urban planning, credit and social protection. The long-term transition is therefore unlikely to be a simple disappearance of informality. More plausibly, activities will move unevenly 10671067 GAJENDRA THAKUR along ladders of registration, protection, productivity and spatial security while retaining microenterprise forms. Table 105.1 — Informal economies combine flexibility with specific institutional vulnerabilities Economic form Why it persists Principal vulnerability Street and mobile Low fixed cost; access to footfall; Eviction, weather, congestion rules, vending rapid turnover weak storage Periodic haats and market Concentrated demand without Seasonality, drainage, sanitation, stalls permanent premises market fees Home-based production Combines residence and enterprise; Hidden labour, limited scale, saves rent household risk Repair and petty services Skill-intensive; extends asset life; Low capital, irregular demand, weak local demand protection Informal transport and Last-mile mobility for people and Road risk, regulation, fuel/vehicle loading goods costs Food vending Affordable meals at high-footfall Food safety, water, waste, heat and sites perishability Waste recovery and Material recovery and low-entry Health exposure, price volatility, recycling employment insecure access