Relevance of Rural Periodic Markets: A Review

Literature on periodic markets in rural areas predicts the demise of these markets. Administrative policies support alternative markets for marketing farmer produce. Despite these predictions and administrative actions there are more than 43,000 periodic markets in India. Literature is reviewed to understand the state of knowledge on the influences that shape these periodic markets and to explain the resilience of these markets. The literature is organized into four streams to understand the phenomenon. The economic influences are grouped under the central place theory, microeconomic orientation and exogenous influences of government policies and competition. In addition to the economic factors the fourth stream is the social influences that shape these markets. The evaluation of the literature provides some understanding on the reason for the resilience. The literature clearly indicates the utility of these markets when density of demand is low but the persistence of these markets with increasing population and income is possibly less because of inertia and more because they offer value both to consumers and vendors too.