Delhi’s Street Vendors Protest Walmart’s Shady Tactics

Walmart India Private Limited is about to open it’s 21st store near the Taj Majal in Agra, India, and street vendors, who sell similar goods as Walmart, are protesting the move, saying it will take away their business.

Iattar Hussain, a street vendor who sells old clothes and old leather jackets, attends a meeting of the street vendors and hawkers of Delhi on Jan. 6, 2015. Hussain was a one of 500 vendors who protested Walmart's expansion outside of the company's corporate offices in Gurgaon city of Delhi on Nov. 19, 2014. Venus Upadhayaya/Epoch Times

NEW DELHI—Walmart India Private Limited is about to open it’s 21st store near the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, and street vendors, who sell similar goods as Walmart, are protesting the move, saying it will take away their business.

Under Indian FDI laws, the retail giant is allowed to open wholesale stores that sell only to businesses like street vendors, hotels, offices, and restaurants. Customers must have a photo ID to enter, and there is a mandatory minimum purchase so that individuals will not take advantage of the cards.

In theory, this should prevent people from shopping at Walmart like a retail store, but street vendors say that it is easy to sidestep these barriers.

"Poor people are connected with small markets and this big fish [Walmart] is ready to eat it."

— Gulshan Kumar, Street Vendor in Delhi