9. Findings of the Study

• Khwairamband market, probably the biggest women market in Asia, consists of eight different segments.
• Majority of the women traders/ entrepreneurs (vendors) who operate in the market are from economically backward class.
• Average age of women vendors is 50 years and above.
• Most of the women vendors are illiterate.
• They mainly hail from villages, which are linked by busses.
• Local women (from greater Imphal area) also operate in the market. But they operate mostly as secondary vendors i.e., they collect whole ranges of goods from the primary vendors for selling in the market.
• Economically sound ladies own shops locally called dukan and it is in this dukan both the husband and wife are seen transacting business.
• Younger women are also seen in the market. But their number is negligible.
• When a social function is to be attended, a vendor entrusts another known vendor to sell her goods.
• Most of the primary vendors who come to the Market return back to their home at around 10 A.M. They can, thus, utilise the remaining part of the day in domestic work.
• Most of primary vendors are from rural areas. Their husbands are mostly engaged in agriculture activities.
• In case of the handloom traders it is mostly the women who are involved while collecting finished cloths from the weavers and transportation to the market. The role of their husband is negligible. Their husbands are either government servants or traders or even farmers.
• Women weavers are not generally involved in the marketing (selling). They stay at home with their looms and carry out the production of cloths. It is when raw materials are required that they visit the market.
• For marketing women traders collect finished good from the weavers.
• There is also a system in which a trader supplies yarn to weavers and collects cloths when they are ready. In this was the weaver gets only the labour charge for making the cloths from the trader. It is by the traders who collect finished goods and bring them to the market.
• The traders are not organized in any way. There are some associations like “Keithel Nupi lup” which take part in social functions only and their contribution in economy is limited.
• The Imphal Municipality collects municipal tax solely for the cleaning purposes only. Road tax is collected from those traders who keep and sell their goods on roads in front of the dukan.
• Nupa market is only an extension of Nupi market. Here (in the Nupa market) most of the traders are women who are involved in selling handicraft articles only. The term Nupa market is for the name’s sake only.
• Muslims traders also sit in the Nupi market and the Yenyonfam market. There is no taboo for the Muslim traders in the Khwairamband market. They mix up with majority Meitei traders. However, majority of the Muslim traders are found in the Yenyonfam market.
• Most of the primary vendors do not come to the market regularly. When they come to the market, the transaction is done solely on the principle of “money on the spot payment”.
• The primary vendors are mostly available during the morning hours only. Once they sell their goods they return back to their villages.
• The secondary vendors sit in the market till late in the evening
• Middlemen play a dominant role in financing the vendors and charge an exorbitant rate of interest of 10 per cent per day (or 300%) per month).
• There are private banks (middlemen) that have emerged around the market. They charge 6 per cent rate of interest per month.
• The system of repayment prevalent in the market is in favour of the middlemen. Say a sum of Rs. 10,000 is lent to a trader. Each day, the trader is to pay Rs. 100 for a period of 140 days. Thus, the middlemen collects Rs. 14,000.
• The women entrepreneurs depend on the middlemen partly because (a) they do not require large amount of finance and partly because hassle-free institutional finance is not available to them.
• The transaction between the moneylender and the women entrepreneurs is done without any written agreement. But this is honoured both by the middlemen and the women entrepreneurs.
• The Khwairamband Keithel is the oldest market in Imphal. Punshi Keithel and Nagamapal Keithel are developed recently as the numbers of vendors are increasing day by day.
• The main problem that the vendors face is the adverse affect of frequent Manipur bandh or vehicle bandh.
• The Khwairamband Keithel lies on the confluence of the Naga River and Nambul River. So whenever these rivers are in spate there is water logging in the market. In such cases, business transaction cannot take place.
• Looking in to the over population of the Khwairamband Bazaar there has been extension of the market in the Uripok Kangchup road area. But this may not solve the problem of overcrowding of the market.
• As the things stand now, there is little scope for banks to lend to the women traders and entrepreneurs (may be called primary vendors). Because primary vendors do not come to the market regularly. Only the secondary vendors are the regular traders/entrepreneurs. They can provide credit opportunities to banks

Thingbaijam Michael Khumancha

* Thingbaijam Michael Khumancha (Meiraba) prepared this report and was approved by Dr D. D. Mali, Former Director, Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship, Guwahati , India.
You can contact Meiraba at khumancham(at)rediffmail(dot)com .
This article was webcasted on March 13th, 2007.