Tuesday, March 15, 2011

India Unbound


India Unbound by Gurucharan Das is a collectible for anyone interested in a comprehensive history of the Indian political and economic climate after independence. The author describes in an autobiographical way the major economical changes in the country, what exactly happened, when it happened, how it happened, why it should have happened earlier, how blessed we are to be living in the age when some positive changes did happen in the Indian economy - all this with little anecdotes about the lives of some great Indian businessmen, both past and contemporary.

The author, now a full time writer and occasional business consultant, was born in 1943 and in the beginning of this book tells us about our struggle for independence from the British from his grandfather’s perspective, painting a picture of what freedom really meant for the common people in general, and his family in particular. The author has studied Philosophy, Politics and Sanskrit at Harvard and it was there that he gradually understood the folly of state control and regulation over the commanding heights of economy and the advantages of free markets and competition. After graduation, he joined Richardson Hindustan Limited in India and got the chance to visit a lot of places in the heart of the country while promoting and looking for distributors of a new product of his organization - Vicks, now a household name in India. During this time, he could see how state regulations were in fact strangling new businesses and doing more harm than good to the country’s economic health. He also witnessed a rise in corruption as a direct result of the License Raj and the gigantic income tax rates. Later on he went on to become the CEO of Proctor & Gamble India and in this capacity came in contact of the likes of Tatas and Birlas and could not only understand, but could also empathize with the grim situation they faced in starting up new companies and expanding business empires in the country.

Mr. Das has beautifully woven all these experiences and more in his book, and believes that India and Indians became truly free, and not just politically independent, only after the reforms of 1991, since when the country is emerging as a strong economy with the rise of the middle class – the only way in which poverty can ultimately be rid of. The book concludes with a positive note about the progress of the country in the information age and the promise of a better future if the reforms continue.

The language is simple and easy to understand and the organization of the contents is in chronological order which takes us on a smooth journey of the author’s life and ideologies. All in all, being an honest and straightforward capitalist outlook on the political-economic-social scene in the country, this book is a must contemporary read.