Platforms in and Across Markets

Abstract

This chapter explains how platforms in India respond to and are shaped by the unique characteristics of Indian markets. Digital platforms encounter structures – social norms, hierarchies and institutions – that have long determined market processes in India. They selectively link with them across global, local and hyperlocal scales. In doing so, platforms must also develop strategies to generate external legitimacy among market participants across these interconnected markets. This interaction also restructures logics in Indian markets. Indian complementors strategically navigate between platform logics and parallel values that inform their own communities and stakeholders. The simultaneous layering and interpenetration of physical markets and digital platforms create a relational site that informs the functioning of various market processes.