Startup India: Small businesses that shine in summer

A nation of billions has at least a million new enterprising ideas to make hay while the sun shines. Well, literally. As the blistering Indian summer sets in, the country’s street vendors make for a r...

Apr 22, 2017, 07:02 IST5 min

1/17

Kulfi &ldquoPhoto kya le rahe ho (Why are you just clicking pictures?) &ndash come taste the kulfi, I make it with my own hands,&rdquo says Munendra ...

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Mangoes Jamal Mohamed leaps at any car that slows down at the sight of his horse-drawn cart, thrusting a slice of totapuri, a variety of mango he sells. Jamal and the ...

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Ice Cream &ldquoVenus Icecream Company has been around since 1955, and myself since 1982,&rdquo says Gyan Chand proudly. He rattles off a couple of other brand names f...

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Ice Cream Sunil Kumar was working for Relaxo, the shoe company when he decided to quit out of &lsquoboredom&rsquo. Since six years, he diligently parks his Kwality Wa...

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Tharbooj (Musk Melon) Thakurji parks his pushcart displaying muskmelons temporarily in the middle of the pedestrian-only road at the bustling Lajpat Nagar market and n...

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Chuski &lsquoCollege-log&rsquo (College crowds) throng Ramkilavan&rsquos cart for the sprightly green and orange chuski that sell for Rs 30 a piece. The fact ...

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Candy floss Vijay walks about on foot around Rajpath once a week, selling candy floss at Rs 10 to tourists for most of the summer. He sells about fifty to sixty sticks...

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Jaljeera Regulars looking for Satpal&rsquos Jaljeera&nbsp can&rsquot miss his wooden cart, and its garland of mint leaves around a large earthen pot. He takes a bus fr...

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Frock Lal Babu&rsquos is a business on the move. He has no idea where these cotton frocks are manufactured, but they are perfect for the season. At Rs 50 a piece, thes...

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Rooh Afza Salim Mohamed charges Rs 10 for a glass of the sherbet and insists on not just the drink&rsquos cooling properties, but its magical ones. A customer almost s...

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Umbrella Pavan has a strange logic for why he dangles his umbrellas on a low hanging branch: most heroes that feature on them are adept at soaring past trees. And kids...

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Goli Soda Bhim Singh has finished a crate (24 bottles) of Marble Soda by late afternoon, making masala lime soda for the thirsty, charging Rs 20 for a tall glass . He ...

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Sugarcane Irshad was 12-years-old when he left his village in Bharaich, came to Delhi and worked at a sugarcane stall. A year later, he began his own shop. He prefers ...

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14/17

Bael It&rsquos a fruit that perplexes Munish Ahmed too. It makes its appearance for just two months &ndash April and May - in its annual cycle. Regulars gulping it dow...

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15/17

Selfie Strange business this, but Mamu is a man of few words. He walks about confidently, poker faced, tapping his stick and every vendor in the vicinity shakes hands ...

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Sunglasses The song Kala Chashma may have extolled that black aviators look best on a &lsquofairer&rsquo face, but Mahendra Tyagi begs to differ. Most men ...

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Pool &lsquoI&rsquom from a desert (Rajasthan) so it must be my fate to sell this&rsquo Prahlad says, grinning. These China-made &lsquoswimming pools&rsquo start from R...

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