Why Has India Failed To Create Next Gen Business Icons?

#2 Blame the Oligarchic Capitalism

India has witnessed a sharp rise in economy over the past decade, what the newly appointed Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan calls oligarchic capitalism. He also observes that India has the largest number of billionaires in the world per trillion dollars of GDP; where the predominant source of the wealth creation has been land, natural resources and government contracts. This very government-business nexus has made things difficult for new players to emerge iconic.

Ruchir Sharma of Morgan Stanley, talks about the same thing in his book “Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles.” He writes in his book, "In the global media India is still closely associated with its technology entrepreneurs, but lately these dynamic moguls are getting replaced on the billionaire list by a new group: provincial tycoons who have cut deals with state governments to corner the market in location-based industries like mining and real estate."

This ‘license raj,’ a way to access government patronage has been a key factor in shaping fortunes presently. But those who did succeed in this and became rich businessmen did not turn business icons as they failed to earn respect that many of their peers had from 1990s and continue to have even today.