No. 20:Inclusive Growth and the Informal Food Sector in Bangalore, India

• Main Authors: Shankar Honasoge, Kailas, Jagadeesh, Keerthana, Kalloor, Veneet J., Anand, Shriya
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Scholars Commons @ Laurier 2020
• Subjects: Food Studies; Human Geography; Politics and Social Change; Urban Studies and Planning; Indian; sami
• Online Access: https://scholars.wlu.ca/hcp/44; https://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1046&context=hcp

This report presents and analyzes the findings of a food vendor survey conducted by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements as part of the Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP) in Bangalore, India, in September and October 2018. It is a supplement to, and should be read in conjunction with, HCP Report No. 5: The Urban Food System of Bangalore, India (Surie and Sami 2017) and HCP Report No. 14, The State of Household Food Security in Bangalore, India (Koduganti et al 2019). The former provides essential contextual background on the history, demography, and economy of Bangalore, while the latter presents findings from a city-wide household food security survey. This report provides new empirical knowledge about food vendors and the informal food economy within which they operate. It also contributes to comparative studies among the seven cities of the HCP project. The report consists of 11 sections. Section Two provides an overview of the sampling strategies and methodologies of the city-wide vendor survey. Section Three profiles the food vendors included in the sample. Section Four discusses the vendors’ enterprise structure. Section Five explores the business strategies employed by the vendors. Section Six examines the financial metrics of the food enterprises. Section Seven examines the vendors’ business challenges and Section Eight explores food storage and electricity provision. Section Nine profiles the employees working at the surveyed enterprises and Section Ten explores business aspirations and plans. The final section presents a brief discussion of the survey findings.