<p>The British colonial state enacted the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, notifying over 200 communities across colonial India as Criminal Tribes. The state attempted to sedentarise and rehabilitate these communities, which resulted in their assimilation at the bottom of the local caste based social structure, deepening their economic marginalisation. The Government of India repealed this act in 1952, and these communities have been termed denotified tribes since then. This article attempts to understand the socio-economic and occupational mobility of one such community, the Malakkuravan community, which has historically been associated with the trading of curry leaves and now engages in the petty trade of curry leaves on the footpaths of the largest vegetable market in Tamil Nadu. Based on qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys conducted among the curry leaf traders in the markets. Despite their visible participation in informal market spaces, they face systemic exclusion and discrimination. However, curry leaf production is primarily carried out by the privileged castes. Such situations reveal not only economic but also deeply embedded caste-based social ordering, wherein one’s community affiliation determines their choices in economic activities. The study argues that Indian markets remain embedded in social hierarchies that reproduce caste-based economic inequality, which further reinforces the socio-economic marginality of the vulnerable populations in the markets.</p>