NEW DELHI, India - Getting in was easy but getting out with the story was the tricky bit. When we first went to the West Delhi Kabari market (Kabari is Hindi for junk) to film it for India Means Business, it was all smiles and welcomes.

Pick the parts and name the price at New Delhi's junk market.

We went in without a camera just to talk to the people who own businesses there, the workers and customers to get a feel for the place. The entrepreneurial spirit was certainly evident.

At first glance it looks like a morgue for vehicles. Parts from all kinds line the dusty streets. There were even ship parts and old gutted gas pumps.
Decades-old Mahindra army jeeps sit in rows ready to be dismantled or dolled up, whatever the customer orders. The parts from all kinds of vehicles are put together in any combination you can afford.

If you want a Mahindra jeep to look like a Hummer the scrap mechanics will use the most recognizable parts from the Hummer and attach them to a Mahindra.

The owners of one shop told us the cost for a reconfigured jeep is about $2500, a car about $1,000 and they can get it done in less than two weeks.
Those who buy range from the poor who need simple transportation to those with money to burn.

Everything is done out in the open. There are hundreds of workers doing by hand what commercial car manufacturers automated years ago.

So it seemed like an easy enough story to do. Everything that needed to be photographed and all the people that we needed to talk to were outside in plain daylight. No lights, no security guards, no problem.

But that wasn’t the case.

The junk market has a shady side and we found out all too quickly once we walked along the streets with a camera. At first no one wanted to talk to us even after meeting several people who had given us a tour the first time we were there.

Twice, men surrounded us and demanded we turn the camera off and leave.

We did.

Well, we walked down the street and around the corner and finally talked to a businessman who told us in no uncertain terms that a criminal element existed in the junk market.

Basically, because many rules and regulations are broken, including dangerous working conditions, some of the business owners pay off police and officials to continue to operate. And it’s also a cash business so tax evasion is also part of the equation.

The junk market is part of a vast area of employment that operates under the radar. It’s part of what the government of India calls the “Unorganized Sector”.

The latest study said 93 percent of India’s workforce is employed in this informal sector. It typically pays dirt-cheap wages and affords no rights to workers. It does however create jobs where there is a desperate need.

In the end we got our story but again found ourselves surrounded by angry business owners when we tried to get one last shot as we walked out of the market.

We didn’t get the last shot but we did leave with our camera and tape intact, and no one got hurt.

Watch Sara Sidner's report on India's "unorganized sector"