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Abstract
Weekly markets or ‘hafta bazaars’ are an important part of India’s cultural and traditional milieu. These
informal markets are held once a week at a particular place, within varying time slots, and cater to a
diverse spectrum of consumers. Although these markets are important from both an economic and a
cultural point of view, they have not been documented properly. A team of researchers has attempted
to comprehensively document Delhi’s weekly markets by mapping their locations, products sold and
the days and timings at which they are held. This article offers a geographical overview of these markets
through the creation of an innovative web portal—the first such attempt to showcase and digitise these
invincible economic hubs on a single platform. Lessons from this exercise could pave the way for future
research to unearth the administrative and economic models that underpin the efficient and sustainable
functioning of the hafta bazaars.
Keyword
hafta bazaar, weekly market, Delhi, urban market, urban mapping
Introduction
The phenomenon of weekly markets or hafta bazaars (Hindi, ‘hafta’: week, ‘bazaar’: market) is centuries
old in India (Hasmi, 2007). Almost every Indian village has had permanent and weekly markets (Hasmi,
2007), in addition to others organised annually (like the Pushkar cattle fair) or during festivals. In their
1
Cluster Innovation Centre, Ramjas College, University of Delhi, Delhi.
2
Ramjas College, University of Delhi, Delhi.
Corresponding author:
Asani Bhaduri, Cluster Innovation Centre, F-116, Cluster Innovation Centre, G.C. Narang Road, University of Delhi, Delhi
110007, India.
E-mails: asanii.bhaduri@gmail.com, asani.bhaduri@ducic.ac.in
10 Urbanisation 5(1)
earliest form, these markets took the form of a ‘haat’, ‘tehbazaari’, or ‘saaptahik bazaar’, primarily to
sell agricultural produce and articles of daily use. The purpose of weekly bazaars has been to provide
farmers and manufacturers a platform to sell their products directly to consumers at fair prices, without
the involvement of middlemen and wholesalers.
The origin of these markets lies in geographical diversity enabling unique regional produce, which
created the need for goods to be exchanged. A site would be earmarked where people could exchange
their products for other goods or for money. According to Machiraju (2009), micro-markets exist
wherever a group of people or community exists, in order to periodically meet their requirements in a
cost-effective manner. The weekly market is a traditional style of retailing where on a particular weekday,
traders display their commodities in a makeshift arrangement. While many of these markets are authorised
by the state municipal authorities against payment of a fixed amount, others continue to operate without
any proper approval or record. (Chowdhary, 2017; Mohan & Sekhani, 2017).
The vendors who participate in local weekly markets have been identified as street vendors under Clause
2(l) of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. This act
categorically defines a ‘street vendor’ as a person engaged in the vending of articles, goods, wares, food
items or merchandise of everyday use, or a person who offers services to the general public on a street, lane,
sidewalk, footpath, pavement, public park or any other public place or private area, from a temporary
built-up structure or by moving from place to place. The act includes hawkers, peddlers, squatters and other
synonymous terms which may be local or region specific. Accordingly, vendors in local weekly markets are
a subset of street vendors who regularly come together to provide market services at a particular place and
time. Delhi has about three lakh street vendors, even though the official figure of ‘legal’ vendors according
to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is roughly around 1.25 lakh (Sankrit, 2015).
Weekly markets form an informal market segment and ‘facilitate the informal and formal economy
not merely in terms of traditional concerns of labor and consumption, but also with regard to cultural and
spatial contingencies’ (Evers & Seale, 2018). While these bazaars continue to operate in fundamentally
the same way, the vendors face many liabilities that resemble the struggles of urban lower and middle
class workers engaged in the informal sector, which sustains the rising population in the economy. Much
has changed in the hafta bazaars today—from the wares that are sold to the customers who shop there;
yet the social and cultural dynamics of these markets should be preserved and documented (Hashmi,
2007). Usually, these markets are organised on pavements. Commodities sold range from small, everyday
objects to vegetables, garments, toys and small electrical gadgets. The cost of most goods is lower than
one would find in established outlets or malls.
Delhi has long been a centre for political and economic activities and has seen a constant influx of
migrants from other Indian states in search of livelihood. This contributed to its informal economy and
enabled the hafta bazaar tradition, where migrants serve as both buyers and sellers. These markets are
characterised by cheaper products, family-run shops and high competition. They offer one-stop shopping,
greater choice and convenience for customers (NCERT, 2019). This has significantly increased people’s
access to goods that were earlier only available in big market centres. Buyers and sellers converge in
these markets periodically to acquire and/or dispose locally produced and acquired goods and services,
exchange information with friends, relatives and strangers, as well as engage in recreational activities
(Tamaskar, 1986).
The idea is to study the different setups, functioning and social institutions that run these economic hubs
as well as possible migration patterns of the vendors. Towards this objective, we have already completed
a survey of Mahila Bazaar—the only women vendors’ market in Delhi (manuscript in preparation).
The online portal will be made more interactive in the near future, with viewers having access to
additional information about new hafta bazaars (this feature is not yet available).
We started the documentation and mapping of the hafta bazaars with two primary objectives: The first
was to create a public portal which contained information about their timings, products sold and locative
maps for use by people living in Delhi. This would help both consumers as well as vendors. The second
objective was to create a data set which can be used to study various facets of these markets from the
perspective of economy, urbanisation and policy.
Figure 1. Map Displaying the Different Hafta Bazaars of Delhi and NCR.
Source: The authors.
Sharma et al. 13
Figure 2. Frequency Analysis of Number of Markets on Each Day of the Week
Source: The authors.
Many hafta bazaars primarily originated close to factories and warehouses of suppliers to directly sell the
products from these setups.
Most hafta bazaars operate using stalls to sell products in residential areas, which makes them
stationary. Although some permanent shop-owners participate in the bazaars, there are also several
mobile vendors who migrate to different bazaars in the same week. Our findings indicate that although
informal, these weekly markets operate on the basis of a complex model, as illustrated in Figure 3,
involving several consumer parameters and vendor accessibility.
Figure 3. A Model of the Hafta Bazaars in Delhi Showing the Diverse Network Which Makes It a Sustainable
Venture.
Source: The authors.
include their timings of operation and the availability of a wide range of cheap and economical products,
such as fresh vegetables, daily use items, local and homemade products, all in one place. Further, the
vendors in these markets are either self-employed businessmen, hawkers or peddlers who sell products
as per the demand of the local public. In some instances, the products depend on the factories that they
are located in proximity to.
Diversity of Products
Hafta bazaars are known for their diversity of products, including clothes, spices, toys, slippers, belts,
plastic products, stationery, bags, bedsheets and electric appliances. People also use these markets to buy
fresh vegetables and fruits and products and household products such as grinder stones which are rarely
available in regular shops or malls. These markets are localised according to the area, that is they have the
flexibility to sell products that are most in demand from a particular community. Often these products, such
as fruits and vegetables, are seasonal. Hafta bazaars also sell products used for rituals during festivals.
These markets are also popular centres for ready-to-eat products such as Chinese and Indian fast food.
Conclusions
Hafta bazaar is a term that describes a particular segment of the that operates on a given day of the week,
at a certain place. While originally meant to cater to the needs of low-income sections of society, today
these bazaars are equally popular across all segments of the population. No longer limited to a few
commodities, they offer a variety of household goods, organic products, textiles, stationery, home
decorative items, fruit and vegetables and other necessities for regular use. However, these temporary
markets, which are a vital part of the urban socio-economic fabric, are facing a set of challenges. These
include security concerns, corrupt administrative institutions that govern the registration of stalls, and
exploitation through the imposition of illegal tariffs on sales, among others. A sustainable model needs
to be developed and implemented for the long-term survival of this market system, as it provides
livelihoods to people and contributes to the economy. The concept of the hafta bazaar, a marketplace
which reflects the struggles of the urban poor and people engaged in the informal economy for
generations, needs to be encouraged. Ggovernment support must be provided for the sustainable survival
of this vital sector of the economy. This first online portal documenting Delhi’s weekly markets is
envisioned as a first step towards the complete documentation of India’s urban and rural weekly markets
as a citizen science project. We have focussed on the migration patterns of vendors, selected interesting
markets for their tourism potential and surveyed vendors and consumers for a better understanding of the
functioning of these hafta bazaars. Given how underreported this area of research is, this work could
pave the way for further work on India’s weekly markets, their sustainability and dynamic nature.
Acknowledgement
We are thankful to the Director, CIC, for letting us continue with the project. We have not received any extramural
grant for this project.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iD
Asani Bhaduri https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1266-9257
References
Chowdhary, S. (2017, October). The weekly markets of Delhi: Operating in the formal ‘space’ and informal
economy. E-journal of the Indian Sociological Society, 1(2), 3–31.
Evers, C. & Seale, K. (Eds.) (2018). Informal urban street markets: International perspectives. Routledge.
Hashmi, S. (2007). The hafta bazaars of Delhi. https://kafila.online/2007/08/06/the-hafta-bazaars-of-delhi/
Machiraju, V. (2009). Development of micro-markets. http://www.developmentcrossing.com/profiles/blogs/
development-of-micromarkets
Mohan, D. & Sekhani, R. (2017). Governing dynamics of informal markets: A case study of local markets in Delhi.
http://www.jgu.edu.in/sites/default/files/governing-dynamics-of-informal-markets-report.pdf
NCERT. (2007). Markets around us. In Civics Solutions—Social and Political Life—II. Author.
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