NCERT Solutions for Class 7th Social Science Chapter 12 Understanding Markets
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
A market is any place — or platform — where people buy and sell. It is the bazaar , the haat , the mārukatté of Kannada; it can be a weekly cart-market, a mall, a mandī, or an app on a phone. The chapter opens in the Hampi Bazaar of the Vijayanagara Empire, which the Portuguese traveller Domingos Paes called “the best-provided city in the world”. Every market needs a buyer, a seller and a price they both accept. The guava story makes this concrete: at ₹80/kg the cart stays full and buyers walk away; at ₹20/kg the cart empties at once and buyers are left disappointed; at ₹40/kg everyone is served. Over time, the quantity offered by sellers and the quantity wanted by buyers settle the price. Markets come in pairs of types. Physical and online; domestic and international; wholesale and retail
- Chapter opening
- What is a Market?
- The Glorious Hampi Bazaar, Karnataka
- Fig. 12.4
- After the skit
- Where bargaining stops
- Prices and Markets
- Late-night vegetables and end-of-season woollens
- Physical and online markets compared
- Fig. 12.11, Movement of Physical Goods in Markets
Quick revision
| Term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Worth remembering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market | A place — physical or online — where people buy and sell goods and services | Page 250, What is a Market? | Also called bazaar, haat, mārukatté (Kannada) |
| Trade | Buying and selling or exchange of goods and services between people or countries | Margin note, page 250 | Trade needs a buyer, a seller and an agreed price |
| Needs | Something a person requires to survive — food, water, clothing, shelter | Margin note, page 250 | Needs keep you alive; wants only make life nicer |
| Wants | Something a person desires but which is not essential for survival | Margin note, page 250 | A mobile phone is a want; drinking water is a need |
| Price | The amount at which a buyer is willing to buy and a seller is willing to sell | Margin note, page 251 | The guavas: ₹80 → ₹20 → ₹40 |
| Manufacturer | A person or company that makes goods for sale | Margin note, page 254 | Surat's power looms and dyeing units are manufacturers |
| Inputs for production | Materials or resources used in producing goods and services | Margin note, page 254 | Raw cotton is the input for Surat's cotton fabric |
| Import / Export | Buying goods from another country and bringing them in / selling goods produced here to a buyer abroad | Margin notes, page 255; Fig. 12.10 | India exports software services, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods; imports crude petroleum, diamonds, vegetable oils |
| Cold storage | A specialised warehouse kept at low temperature to preserve perishable goods | Margin note, page 258; Fig. 12.12 | Without it, vegetables and fruit rot before reaching the mandī |
| Distributors | Individuals or businesses who supply goods from manufacturers and wholesalers to retailers | Margin note, page 259 | They bridge distance and difficult terrain — like the milk middlemen in the AMUL story |
| Aggregator | A website or mobile app that combines offers from many sellers and sells them to consumers in one place | Margin note, page 259 | The online market's substitute for the mandī |
| Demand / Supply | The quantity buyers are willing and able to buy / sellers are willing and able to sell, at a particular price and time | Margin notes, page 265 | Price is settled where the two meet |
| Public goods | A service or commodity available to all members of society, whose present use does not reduce future availability | Margin note, page 267 | Parks, roads, policing — no producer expects a profit from them |
| Certification marks | Government marks that confirm a product meets minimum quality and safety standards | Pages 268–269 | FSSAI food · ISI (BIS) appliances · AGMARK farm produce · BEE Star energy |
Exercises
- Chapter opening — The Big Questions Page 247
- What is a Market? — In-text Questions Page 250
- The Glorious Hampi Bazaar, Karnataka — LET'S EXPLORE Page 251
- Fig. 12.4 — LET'S EXPLORE Page 251
- After the skit — In-text Questions Page 252
- Where bargaining stops — THINK ABOUT IT Page 252
- Prices and Markets — In-text Questions Page 252–253
- Late-night vegetables and end-of-season woollens — THINK ABOUT IT Page 254
- Physical and online markets compared — THINK ABOUT IT Page 255
- Fig. 12.11, Movement of Physical Goods in Markets — LET'S EXPLORE Page 257
- Tracing a real supply chain in your own neighbourhood — LET'S EXPLORE Page 262
- Surat — DON'T MISS OUT Page 262
- The Role of Markets in People's Lives — THINK ABOUT IT Page 263
- Aakriti the painter — In-text Questions Page 263
- How markets benefit society — LET'S EXPLORE Page 263
- Traditions that go beyond buying and selling — LET'S EXPLORE Page 265
- Government's Role — LET'S EXPLORE Page 266
- Kauṭilya's Arthaśhāstra on the ghee trade — THINK ABOUT IT Page 267
- Providing public goods — THINK ABOUT IT Page 267
- How can consumers assess the quality of products and services? — THINK ABOUT IT Page 268
- Fig. 12.29 — In-text Questions Page 268
- BEE Star labels at home — LET'S EXPLORE Page 269
- Reputation, word of mouth and online reviews — In-text Questions Page 269
- The chapter in four points — Before we move on … Page 270
- End-of-chapter exercise — Questions and activities Page 271–272