"The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age"

"The Billionaire Raj"
Source: Amazon.com

James Crabtree, the former Mumbai bureau chief for the Financial Times, wrote a book about India’s colorful economic and political scene.

With over 1 billion people, the country ranks as the sixth largest global economy based on nominal GDP. According to a New World Wealth report India is the home to over 330,000 high net-worth individuals, 20,000 plus multimillionaires, and over 100 billionaires. Still the country has incredible inequality; the country’s top 1 percent now own nearly 60 percent of its wealth.

The Gilded Age analogy paints the picture of the country's rapid economic growth and the increasing wealth of the few people who dominate India's industrial economy, equivalent to the Rockefeller’s of America’s late 19th and early 20th century. Mr Crabtree reveals an intimate story of some of the country's tycoons and political power brokers and believes the country will benefit from its own version of a progressive era. From a review in “The Economist”:

The analysis really sings when Mr Crabtree finds new ways to capture the collision of profits, politics and public opinion. His account of India’s cut-throat network-TV industry, through the eyes of a star presenter, is thrilling. And he explores the paradox of India’s “southern belt” of states, most notably Tamil Nadu, which have their share of charismatic politicians and graft, but are also relatively rich. They have developed an efficient kind of populism, he concludes, in contrast to the purely venal politics farther north.

The book’s main flaw is that it gives a narrow view of the business world. Like Russia and other parts of Asia, India has its politically connected moguls. But it also has what may be the world’s most vibrant tech scene after America and China, a large stock of investment by multinational companies and a cohort of professionally run firms that compete in global markets.

Amazon reviews.

My recent conversation with @jamescrabtree on his book "The Billionaire Raj" and the India #business ecosystem via @AnalyseAsia #podcast https://t.co/eklcJiW5JC

— Bernard Leong (@bernardleong) September 9, 2018