The Billionaire Raj

Starred review from April 23, 2018
In this eye-opening rumination on wealth, power, and those who seek both, Crabtree, a former India correspondent for the Financial Times, ventures deep into the shadowy heart of India’s “black-money” economy. From the cantilevered skyscrapers of Mumbai’s billionaire elite to a neglected Muslim ghetto in Ahmedabad, Crabtree brings a reporter’s precision and flair to his story, arguing that the rise of the “Bollygarchs” and the takeover of Indian politics by huge sums of private money has led to a boom-and-bust cycle in India’s industrial economy. Weaving in interviews with politicians, central bankers, and industrial tycoons, he concludes that a lack of state capacity in India—the famously byzantine business licensing system, as well as low levels of investment in infrastructure—has contributed to rent-seeking and crony capitalism on the one hand and populist politics with a Hindu nationalist tinge on the other. An inside look into the corridors of power, this is an invaluable commentary on Indian democracy and the forces that threaten it. Agent: Toby Mundy, Toby Mundy Assoc.

May 15, 2018
A report from the front lines of inequality and corruption in India, one of the world's rising economies.It's not the Taj Mahal, but it's got two-thirds of the floor space of Versailles--and on a footprint of just an acre. Former Financial Times Mumbai bureau chief Crabtree considers the Mumbai apartment tower built by billionaire Mukesh Ambani to be the pre-eminent symbol of "the power of India's new elite," one that pointedly emphasizes the sharp divide between rich and poor in the country--and indeed, the divide between the merely rich and the superrich. The creation of a class of hyperwealthy commoners owes at least in some measure to domestic economic reforms meant to advance a free market but that, instead, in combination with modernization and globalization, ushered in an era of staggering corruption, with the government machinery simply unable to keep up with a wave of crony capitalism. "The 1991 reforms," writes the author, gave "Indians a taste of a new world of mobile phones, multi-channel television and foreign consumer goods." They also inaugurated an enthusiasm for globalization that is largely unmatched; most Indians, Crabtree asserts, are all for it. However, support for globalization does not necessarily mean support for the greatest beneficiaries of it; anti-corruption campaigns are increasingly commonplace. Yet state apparatus is too inefficient to do much about it. As Crabtree notes, there are so many layers of bureaucracy that a would-be entrepreneur has to negotiate that it's only natural for a businessperson to try "to strike a deal towards the top of the decision-making chain." Corruption has not moderated under the "big-government conservative" Narendra Modi, who, Crabtree foresees, will in his second term yield to the temptation to substitute nationalism for economic reform, following the path set by Putin in Russia and Erdogan in Turkey. Even so, writes the author, it is not inevitable that India become "a saffron-tinged version of Russia."Solid reading for students of economic development and global economics.

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July 1, 2018

Crabtree (Lee Kuan Yew Sch. of Public Policy, National Univ. of Singapore) uses his experience as a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times based in Mumbai to consider India's industrial growth that produced a new millionaire class. The first step in this change was marked by a period of progress, with people leaving rural areas to work in city-based factories. Corporations began to make money at an astounding rate, increasing the already wide gap between rich and poor. The author then refers to the next stage as crony capitalism, characterized by high-level scheming between corporate bosses and political elites ensuring public resources are kept for themselves. He introduces readers to Reliance Industries, owned by the billionaire Ambani Family, and patriarch Mukesh Amani, India's richest man, and also sheds light on "Bollygarchs," (a portmanteau of Bollywood and oligarch), who hold power in social and political circles. Toward the end, he wonders what kind of superpower India will become in the future. A weaker version of Western democracy corrupted by capitalism and inequality? Or similar to Russia, run by bribery and totalitarian politics? VERDICT A well-researched, compelling read for those interested in global societies.--Susanne Lohkamp, Multnomah Cty. Lib., Portland, OR

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2018
In this illuminating study, Crabtree, former Mumbai bureau chief for the Financial Times, asks how political corruption and a powerful Bollygarchy have remade India since economic liberalization in 1991. Weaving together political analysis, academic research, and profiles of India's new tycoons, several of whom spoke with him, Crabtree constructs a layered narrative of a nation in economic and political upheaval. Startling accounts of conspicuous consumption abound, as do sordid tales of high-society business intrigue. But Crabtree's target is bigger?India's transforming political and economic culture. In lucid detail, he explains how the nation of Gandhi and Nehru became the nation of Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire industrialist whose 500-foot-tall personal residence looms over Mumbai. He links public anger over elite influence peddling to the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose brand of muscular politics melded anticorruption efforts and right-wing Hindu nationalism. Surprising insights spring from Crabtree's comparison of India's current situation to the U.S.' Gilded Age, a comparison embraced by Indians eager for a Progressive Era of their own. Crabtree's account is engrossing for its views of India and trends reshaping the globe. A must for readers interested in contemporary India and a revelation for those interested in our changing world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)