India’s economic transformation has produced remarkable growth, but it has not distributed opportunity equally. Alongside new industries, rising markets and expanding infrastructure, millions continue to face insecure employment, inadequate healthcare, poor-quality education, housing shortages and rising living costs. The central question is therefore not whether India is growing, but who controls the growth, who benefits from it and who bears its social and environmental costs.

Clara Elisabetta Mattei an Italian economist and academic in her book Escape from Capitalism argues” that capitalism is not a natural or inevitable arrangement. It is a political and institutional system organised around wage labour, private investment and production for profit. In such a system, economic decisions are often presented as technical necessities, even though they are political choices. Austerity, privatisation and labour-market flexibility may be described as unavoidable reforms, but they can also transfer resources and power from the majority to a small economic elite.”This framework is especially relevant to India, where economic inequality has increased sharply over recent decades. Research by the World Inequality Lab estimates that the richest 1% of Indians received 22.6% of national income and owned approximately 40.1% of total wealth in 2022–23, while the bottom 50% owned only about 6.4% of wealth. These figures are not merely statistical indicators. They describe unequal access to land, education, healthcare, credit, political influence and the ability to withstand economic shocks. piketty.pse.ens

The Indian form of crony capitalismCrony capitalism refers to an economic environment in which business success depends substantially on political favour, privileged access to public resources or regulatory protection rather than open competition. In India, scholars have associated it with the close relationship between political power, bureaucracy and selected business groups.

The problem is not private enterprise itself. A competitive private sector can create employment, innovation and economic value. The danger arises when public assets, contracts, licences, natural resources, land and financial support are allocated through opaque arrangements that favour a few powerful companies. When this happens, the market ceases to be a system of fair exchange and becomes a mechanism for distributing privilege.Crony capitalism also damages honest businesses. A small entrepreneur who lacks political access cannot compete with a corporation that receives preferential land, easier credit, favourable regulation or government-backed protection. Over time, this reduces competition, encourages monopolistic behaviour and weakens........

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