FALLING TENDENCY OF PROFIT RATE 47 respectively had been operative. Although these tendencies could not last long, under their impact the general movement of the rate of profit during the 20 years from 1946 to 1965 became a mere tendency to fall and nothing more. To draw the finale in our discussion on the falling rate of profit in the Indian manufacturing industries we must point out that due to the following reasons our findings cannot be regarded as conclusive: First, various shortcomings exist in the data we have used (mentioned at the beginning of our discussion); second, we have covered a period of 20 years only, which is not too long and we cannot a priori say what would be the tendency of the rate of profit over a very long period; third, the Indian monopolies are mere pigmies compared to the world monopolies of USA UK, or West Germany; fourth, India is still a developing country. In view of the last two reasons, one may think that the validity of Marx's law cannot be tested by the empirical evidences drawn from the present stage of capitalist development but in terms of capitalism in general. Therefore, the present stage of capitalism in India must come within the purview of the law. , Although we present our findings as tentative, they are very much important in three respects. First, they seem to invalidate some of the major theoretical arguments which are advanced in tortuous attempts to dismiss the law as a mere chimaera. Secondly, they suggest that the validity of the law even under monopoly capitalism cannot be ruled out. Thirdly, they clearly bring out the contradictions of capitalist production, namely (a) the contradiction between the dominant capitalist strata and rest of the capitalists manifested in the unequal distribution of the total surplus value realized and (b) the contradiction manifested in the falling tendency of the rate of profit within the manufacturing establishments of dominant capitalist strata in spite of the vast technological changes brought about by them and their domination over the country's productive resources, production and sales and the realization of surplus value to the detriment of the weakest capitalist strata. [This article is based on the author's Ph D thesis. An abridged version was presented to the 15th Indian Econometric Conference at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, 29-31 December 1975.] 1 When this study was first undertaken ASI reports were available for the years from 195 9 to 1965. Since a deceleration in rates of growth started in almost all industries after 1965, we have not tried to extend the coverage beyond this year although a few more reports have become available. ^ Tugan-Baranowsky, Studien zur Theorie und Geschichte der Handelskrisen in England, G Fischer, Jena, 1901, p 211; L V Bortkiewicz, Value and Price in the Marxian System, International Economic Papers, no 2, 1952, pp 44-47; Joan Robinson, An Eassy on Marxian Economics, Macmillan and Co. Ltd., London 1942, ch V.. P M Sweezy, Theory of Capitalist Development, Monthly Review Press, New York 1956,p 102.