In defiance of the stereotypes trotted out by yesterday’s pundits, modern India’s rise is both unusual and unexpected. It is unusual because some of the sharpest economic improvements are being observed in those sections of Indian society which were thought to be the most disadvantaged: women, oppressed castes and rural India. It is unexpected because of the widespread view. Until a couple of years ago, India’s democratic construct was inferior to China’s single-party state.
In Behold the Leviathan: The Unusual Rise of Modern India, Saurabh Mukherjea and Nandita Rajhansa provide a gripping picture of how 1.5 billion Indians are combining to spectacular effect to create a range of social and economic outcomes which have no precedent in any emerging economy. For example, India now has as many chess grandmasters as the United States, and the expertise of its scientists has guided India’s space modules to the dark side of the moon, a feat no other country has achieved.
In this zeitgeist-defining book, the authors have also explored, through pathbreaking research, why the vast majority of India’s companies are struggling to grow their profits even as a small minority of these companies have gone on to build globe-girdling franchises worth tens of billions of dollars.
Written over two years, during which the authors crisscrossed India hundreds of times and interviewed over fifty of the country’s leading thinkers in business, policymaking, media, and academia, Behold the Leviathan has been hailed by the cognoscenti as 'a firecracker of a read,' challenging decision-makers, policymakers, and opinion leaders to reevaluate their long-standing perceptions of India's development.
Saurabh Mukherjea, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an alumnus of the London School of Economics, is the author of four best-selling books on subjects including investing, business strategy and self-improvement. Prior to Marcellus, he was the CEO of Ambit Capital and before that, the co-founder of Clear Capital (UK). Saurabh manages Marcellus Investment Managers.
Nandita Rajhansa works for Marcellus Investment Managers. She completed her postgraduate studies in economics from Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics. An intuitive problem-solver, Nandita enjoys reading books and articles of multiple genres. She is passionate about finding solutions to real-world problems.
