TRADE

CENSUS STATISTICS

THE CENSUS STATISTICS OF 1951 reveal that trade and commerce provided a primary source of livelihood to 53,858 persons and a secondary means of livelihood to 9,894 persons in Kolhapur district. Of 53,858 persons deriving their livelihood from trade, 14,417 persons were self-supporting; 36,796 persons non-earning dependents and 2,645 persons earning dependents.

The following table gives the number of self-supporting persons engaged in various trades in Kolhapur district:-

TABLE No. 1.

NUMBER OF SELF-SUPPORTING PERSONS ENGAGED IN VARIOUS TRADES IN KOLHAPUR DISTRICT ACCORDING TO 1951 CENSUS.

The table indicates the following four distinct characteristics of the district viz., (i) concentration of traders in retail trade, (ii) an overwhelming number of retail traders in foodstuffs, textile and leather goods, (iii) slight concentration of wholesale trade in foodstuffs as compared to other commodities and (iv) predominance of independent workers.

Of the total number of self-supporting traders, 84.7 per cent. were engaged in various retail trades; 7.4 per cent. in wholesale trade; 7.5 per cent. in financing business; and 0.27 per cent. in insurance and real estate business. Of the total self-supporting traders 65.4 per cent. were independent workers; 20.5 per cent. were employers and 14.05 per cent. were employees.

The following table gives rural and urban composition of the population whose primary source of livelihood is trade and commerce:-

TABLE No. 2.

Of 14,417 self-supporting persons, 10,171 are from urban areas and 4,246 from rural areas. The table reveals that in spite of the fact that a major proportion of the population lives in rural areas, urban areas accounted for 71.4 per cent. of the mercantile community as against 28.6 per cent. which accounted for rural areas. Of the dependents on the trading community, 71.9 per cent. reside in urban areas and the rest in rural areas.

The table below (Table No. 3) gives the total number of agriculturists and non-agriculturists earning their livelihood from trade and commerce as a secondary means of livelihood prima facie suggests that a greater percentage of agriculturists depends upon trade for their secondary means of livelihood than non-agriculturists:-

TABLE No. 3.

Note.-Separate figures for Chandgad taluka, which forms part of Kolhapur District since Reorganisation of States, 1956, are not available and hence are not included in the above tables.

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