ABSTRACT

Scholarly writings on the politics of economic reforms in India have neglected the exponential spike in private wealth and plutonomic tendencies in the post-reform period. This article maps the political economy of the staggering rise and growth of superrich in India. It traces the roots of the state-capital relationship in the colonial period and provides the main contrast between the political economy of the pre-reform and post-reform periods. It does so by analyzing key variables that have facilitated, or continue to facilitate, the flow of private wealth in India. It also examines three major drivers of superrich wealth in India–rent-seeking, entrepreneurship, and inheritance. The article makes two arguments. Firstly, the state’s dramatic turn in support of private capital/wealth accumulation began quite earlier but assumed formal and dynamic forms only after the implementation of economic reforms in 1991. Secondly, the rise of India’s superrich has not simply been a function of merit and entrepreneurial skills as is popularly believed. It is a peculiar combination of other factors that are leading to enormous resources and capacity concentrated in the hands of the superrich and their ability to exert considerable influence on India’s domestic and global policies. Above all, the indispensability of the state’s support has been one of the key factors explaining why some people become and continue to grow rich in India.

摘要

有关印度经济改革政治的学术著作忽视了改革后时期私人财富的指数级增长和冥王经济趋势。本文描绘了印度超级富豪惊人崛起和增长的政治经济学。它追溯了殖民时期国家与资本关系的根源，并提供了改革前和改革后政治经济的主要对比。它通过分析促进或继续促进印度私人财富流动的关键变量来实现这一目标。它还研究了印度超级富豪财富的三个主要驱动因素——寻租、创业和继承。文章提出了两个论点。首先，印度政府在支持私人资本/财富积累方面的巨大转变很早就开始了，但直到 1991 年实施经济改革之后才采取了正式和动态的形式。 其次，印度超级富豪的崛起并不仅仅是功绩和创业技能的结果，人们普遍认为。这是其他因素的特殊结合，导致巨大的资源和能力集中在超级富豪手中，并且他们有能力对印度的国内和全球政策产生相当大的影响。最重要的是，国家的支持不可或缺，这是印度一些人致富并持续致富的关键因素之一。印度超级富豪的崛起并不像人们普遍认为的那样简单地是功绩和创业技能的结果。这是其他因素的特殊结合，导致巨大的资源和能力集中在超级富豪手中，并且他们有能力对印度的国内和全球政策产生相当大的影响。最重要的是，国家的支持不可或缺，这是印度一些人致富并持续致富的关键因素之一。印度超级富豪的崛起并不像人们普遍认为的那样简单地是功绩和创业技能的结果。这是其他因素的特殊结合，导致巨大的资源和能力集中在超级富豪手中，并且他们有能力对印度的国内和全球政策产生相当大的影响。最重要的是，国家的支持不可或缺，这是印度一些人致富并持续致富的关键因素之一。