High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Hawkers in Kolkata numbering 275,000 generated business worth 8,772 crore (around 2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005. In Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, in the Indian state of West Bengal, almost 80 per cent of the pavements are encroached by hawkers and illegal settlers.In many countries, hawkers use pavements or other public places to retail their goods or services but in Kolkata the magnitude has drawn special attention of administrators and law courts.