Rethinking Markets in Modern India

To people operating in India''s economy actually existing markets are remarkably different from how planners and academics conceive them. From the outside they appear as demarcated arenas of exchange bound by state-imposed rules. As historical and social realities however markets are dynamic adaptative and ambiguous spaces. This book delves into this intricate context exploring Indian markets through the competition and collaboration of those who frame and participate in markets. Anchored invivid case studies from colonial property and advertising milieus to today''s bazaar and criminal economies this volume underlines the friction and interdependence between commerce societyand state. Contributors from history anthropology political economyand development studies synthesize existing scholarly approaches add new perspectives on Indian capitalism''s evolution and reveal the transactional specificities that underlie the real-world functioning of markets.