Title: A study of home-based enterprises and street vendors of Assam, India

Authors: Chandana Goswami; Rumia Begum

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Tezpur University, P.O. Napaam, Tezpur, Assam 784028, India ' Department of Business Administration, Tezpur University, P.O. Napaam, Tezpur, Assam 784028, India

Abstract: This paper is an attempt to present a comparative picture of two important segments of urban informal sector, namely street vendors and home-based enterprises. The study highlights demographic profile, nature of occupation and business delivery practices of the two segments. The study is exploratory in nature and has been undertaken in Nagaon and Cachar districts of Assam, India. T-test has been used to compare the street vendors and HBEs of two districts in terms of their monthly family expenditure, initial funding for the business, monthly business expenditure, average sales per day etc. The findings do not show any marked differences between the two segments in the two districts. Therefore the study concluded that the locations Nagaon (Brahmaputra Valley) and Cachar (Barak Valley) do not seem to matter much in the nature and operations or the business delivery practices of these two segments of urban informal sector.

Keywords: comparison; urban informal sector; street vendors; HBEs; emerging economies; home-based enterprises; India; demographics; occupation; business delivery practices.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEPEE.2016.079128

International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, 2016 Vol.9 No.3, pp.290 - 323

Published online: 14 Sep 2016 *

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