‘Capital as power’: an alternative reading of India’s post-2011 economic slowdown

Corporate power and the rise of intangibles: A study of Indian firms

“…Indeed, in the Indian case there has been a striking convergence between authoritarianism, nationalism and growing corporate power. Crucial to this convergence has been the nexus between big corporate houses and the religious right-wing (Chacko, 2020; Desai, 2014, 2016; Kothakapa and Sirohi, 2023). Although the religious right has a long history dating back to the late colonial era, it was only in the 1980s and 1990s that it began finding its feet in the electoral arena and it was not until the thumping electoral victory of 2014 that it truly rose to acquire a hegemonic position (Basu et al, 1993; Bhatt, 2001; Chacko, 2018; Sirohi, 2019; Varshney, 2022).…”

“…In terms of market structure, the “big five” business houses have steadily increased their share of total assets and sales and account for an increasing proportion of the mergers and acquisitions taking place in the economy (Acharya, 2023). The result of this consolidation has been a significant increase in surplus share of dominant capitalists (Kothakapa and Sirohi, 2023). As of 2014 one estimate suggests that the top 1% of Indian tax payers controlled 22% of its national wealth, while a recent Oxfam report has estimated that the top 10% of India’s rich controlled 45% of its wealth in 2022 leaving it with the dubious distinction of having “more billionaires than France, Sweden, and Switzerland combined” (Chancel and Piketty, 2019; Chandra and Walton, 2020; Oxfam, 2022: 7).…”