Paper short abstract:

This paper, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Mumbai, examines how ‘black money’, in ordinary exchange as well as public debate, underwrites links between property, value and morality in contemporary India

Paper long abstract:

Since the 1950s, public discourse in India has been replete with references to ‘black money’. This refers to undeclared income, in cash or fungible form, and proceeds siphoned off into foreign accounts; it can also denote income obtained through illicit methods. Under post-1947 socialist rule – so as to circumvent high excise taxes, official currency rates, and onerous import controls – black money became ubiquitous both as an everyday practice, and within public discourse. A significant portion of exchange was done off the books; ‘white money’, implying bank drafts and taxable receipts, was balanced by black money, or undetectable cash transfer. During economic crises and periods of political upheaval, the government made black marketeers convenient scapegoats. For example, during the 1970s Emergency, the spectre of black money loomed large; crackdowns on tax evaders, smugglers, hoarders and profiteers figured prominently in state propaganda. Yet it was also during India’s socialist phase that black money became indispensable to democratic politics. Large industrial houses and small-time merchants alike financed aspirants during elections.

Today, years after India’s 1991 liberalization, black money still retains its hold on the imagination. Important purchases, such as for urban property, have carefully negotiated white and black ratios. And during India’s 2014 national election campaign, candidates have vowed to retrieve black money stashed in Swiss bank accounts. Black money is, at once, a means to do business, a barometer of value, an elusive spectre, and a moral outrage. It suggests that an inalienable part of the national essence is being laundered, converted, corrupted and disguised.

But what is black money? And what does its significance in ordinary exchange as well as public debate suggest about the nature of property, value and morality? This paper seeks to address these questions by drawing on ethnographic material from contemporary Mumbai.