Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This book examines the relationship between Indian business and economic development. The relationship, mediated by the state, is explored through the lens of business sectors to identify how they contribute to the different facets of economic development, such as growth, exports, economic diversification, technology, and especially employment. Written in an accessible way, the book surveys a range of industries and business sectors as part of India’s quest for economic development as a late industrializer. Most of these business sectors generate development in some form, including some newer sectors such as e-commerce, digitalization, and green energy. However, critical as they might be for the foundation of a vibrant, modern economy, they are shown to be inadequate to make a dent in India’s massive surplus labor. This grim reality is a complex outcome of a structural stalemate that has resulted from the coexistence of low-productivity agriculture, premature deindustrialization, and a vast, persistent informal sector. This three-legged structural deadlock is attributed to India’s late capitalist experience, or “compressed capitalism,” resulting from institutional legacies, a dysfunctional state–business nexus, policy choices, and external conditions. India’s jobs dilemma in the twenty-first century is further compounded by changing technologies and artificial intelligence, competition from China and other parts of Asia, and unanticipated geopolitical upheavals, US tariffs, and visa restrictions for India’s high-value service providers. Tackling the employment challenge will require a fundamental rethinking of strategies to boost the domestic market with demand-side policies and smartly adjusting to the uncertainties of the international economic and political environment.</jats:p>