A Nation Stuck Between Missing Jobs and Growth Ambitions
India grapples with a job crisis fuelled by factors including high youth unemployment, educational and skill imbalance and low female participation, among others. In their book, The Elephant Moves: India’s New Place in the World, Amitabh Kant and Amit Kapoor explore India’s economic evolution through the lens of competitiveness, stressing the need for, and challenges to, policy changes in its run to becoming a developed economy by 2047
March 01, 2024
Wipro's No to Narayana Murthy: A Rejection That Changed Indian IT Sector’s Face
Before he set up what was to become one of Indian IT sector’s biggest success stories, Narayana Murthy was rejected by Wipro chairman Azim Premji. The Infosys chairman later found out that Premji considered this one of his gravest errors of judgement. In her latest book An Uncommon Love Story, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores little known facets of Murthy’s life and the influential role his wife Sudha played in it
February 01, 2024
It Is Too Early to Celebrate India’s New Growth Path, Says Raghuram Rajan
Former RBI governor and economist Raghuram Rajan has been vocal about his ideas on policy matters in India. His latest book Breaking the Mould, co-authored with economist Rohit Lamba, is a deep dive into finer issues of the economy, including welfare schemes, job crisis, misplaced priorities of the government and much more. In an interview, Rajan demystifies the current narrative of growth in the country and why manufacturing-led growth might not be the best solution at hand. Edited excerpts:
Abdul Haleem Sherif - December 29, 2023
What Led to Urjit Patel’s Resignation? An Insider Explains
There have been resignations in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), but governor Urjit Patel’s in 2018 over policy differences was a rare event in the history of the central bank, writes former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg in his book. He details the frustration of the government with the RBI under Patel and the circumstances that eventually culminated into the latter posting his resignation on the RBI website
October 31, 2023
The Imbalances In India’s Growth Story
There is a serious lack of understanding regarding the connections between the real economy and the financial economy, says author Nikhil Gupta. This interconnectedness is what makes the economy a complex subject to understand. In his book, The Eight Per Cent Solution, Gupta harps on the need to make fundamental structural changes if the country wants to attain 8% economic growth rate
August 28, 2023
Crisis in the Courtroom
The Supreme Court’s jurisdiction extends to a population of over 1.4 billion. Does the court make access for the disadvantaged a priority? To what extent is it responsible for the adage ‘justice delayed is justice denied’? Are some lawyers more influential than the others? Authors Aparna Chandra, Sital Kalantry and William H.J. Hubbard discuss these and several other topics concerning the country’s highest court in their book Court on Trial
July 28, 2023
Sustainability at the Heart of Industrial Transition
The transformation in the industry space in recent times has seen a paradigm shift in that it is led by technology guided by sustainability and environment, social and governance values. Author Pranjal Sharma in his latest book notes that ensuring that humans work in a mutually beneficial manner while minimising the impact on earth is a key feature of the fifth industrial revolution
May 30, 2023
The Evolution In The Indian Job Market
Work 3.0 represents the third wave of changes for India in its post-colonial history— the first came in 1947 after independence, the second in 1991 after the economic liberalisation and third in 2020 when the pandemic struck. In an attempt to provide insights into the future of work, workplace and workers, authors Avik Chanda and Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay explore the various underlying factors that have influenced these changes
April 29, 2023
The Balancing Act
To what extent does gender become a liability or a hurdle in the path to success? In her book, Anita Bhogle draws from experiences of women who made different career-related choices, from aggressively marching on to compromising on the job profile or giving it all up for the sake of family duties, to prepare a narrative on the challenges they face
January 02, 2023
When Digital Disrupts Only VC Books
The country’s digital journey started almost two decades ago. Over 100 unicorns later and consuming billions of dollars in VC money, Indian digital companies are still looking for viable profit routes. How big is the failure of India’s digital copycat start-ups?
Nishant - December 31, 2022