ABSTRACT
An analysis of the supply and demand curves in the black market in India is the best ready reckoner of its objectives. The edifice of the Indian black market is principally what economists call unsatisfied demand. The greater the overhead on black marketing, the steeper will be the rise of the supply curve in the black market, to spread out the overhead. The behaviour pattern of demand has been made to fluctuate by the black market operators by spreading rumours about the state of supply, both through rationing and otherwise. The mechanism of profiteering under black market conditions in India can be studied by an economic investigation on the behaviour pattern of the prices, demand and supply of vegetable oil in the Delhi markets during May to July, 1974. While the analysis has been based on market-investigations made in India, the situation is typical of similar market-conditions anywhere else in the world.
