AHMEDABAD: The underground economy, basically the informal sector in Ahmedabad, is essential to the city’s future, according to IP Gautam,municipal commissioner, Ahmedabad.

”The city has lots of informal jobs but per capita income is less, and growth is slow, but one can earn bread and butter,” he says. This is part of the interview in the article The Rise of the Underground’ published in the Wall Street Journal. On the fate of the informal market, Gautam said, “The city is now shifting to try to create more informal jobs, including setting aside new space for public markets at bus stops.”

In the global meltdown, more people are losing their formal jobs, leading to fierce competition in the informal sector. Diamond unit workers in Ahmedabad are worst hit with a large chunk of them out of job now trying hands on informal sector to survive. From 325 vendors, six months ago, the number of vendors rose to 500 at Manek Chowk.

However, growth of more informal jobs also means more lost tax revenues for the civic body.

Source: timesofindia