Introduction

Abstract

Over the last few decades politics in India has moved steadily in a probusiness direction. In this volume we seek to analyze the growing power of business groups in the Indian polity. In this introductory chapter to the volume, we first set the scholarly context to analyze these changes, describe the historical background of India’s probusiness shift, discuss the probusiness tilt beginning in the 1980s and its implications for business power, and provide a summary of the chapters that follow in the volume.

The Spectral Presence of Business in India’s 2019 Election

“…Thus, the diversity across spatial and sectoral dimensions in business activities has combined with change over time in business capacities to shape policy and seek state involvement in economic activities that benefit business. These cumulative developments mean that now business exercises structural, instrumental, and ideational power (Jaffrelot et al, 2019; Murali 2019).…”

“…Public reticence towards business has deep roots in Indian political culture (Jenkins, 2004), and events between 2014 and 2019 encouraged ambiguous attitudes towards business. Narendra Modi has close links with notable members of the business elite, especially in his home state of Gujarat (Jaffrelot, 2019) but has been careful to avoid a public profile for this alliance. 6…”

“…First, we need to reflect more on the implications of post-1991 economic changes for electoral politics. The state recognizes or yields to the aspirations of business increasingly (Jaffrelot, Kohli, & Murali, 2019), but these changes also shape political competition and elections. Elections and party strategies are influenced by sympathy towards business, and enthusiasm for India’s global profile.…”

“…We offer a perspective focusing on the symbiosis of business and politics that has emerged across the Indian polity. Atul Kohli in Power and Plenty argued that a ‘two-track polity’ had emerged after liberalization wherein the government pursued welfarism and nationalism to win elections, while the economic governance track saw the working of a narrow ruling alliance with large business groups and technocratic insulation of economic decision-making (Jaffrelot et al, 2019, p. 11; Kohli, 2012, pp. 60–68).…”

Book review: Kanta Murali. 2017. Caste, Class and Capital: The Social and Political Origins of Economic Policy in India

“…The influential work of Sinha (2005) that explains growth variation in pre-liberalization India highlights the developmental bureaucracy and micro-institutions as important factors. The literature on state–business relationships and business groups also highlights the importance of associations’ influence and the organizational power of capital in shaping policies (Jaffrelot et al, 2019, Mahmood, 2017). Even if business organizations and micro-institutions like industrial development corporations are contingent on the electoral alliances, any analysis should have considered these as distinct variables.…”