Behold the Leviathan: The Unusual Rise of Modern India

by Saurabh Mukherjea

In defiance of the stereotypes trotted out by yesterday’s pundits, modern India’s rise is both unusual and unexpected. It is unusual because some of the sharpest economic improvements are being observed in those sections of Indian society which were thought to be the most women, oppressed castes and rural India. It is unexpected because of the widespread view. Until a couple of years ago, India’s democratic construct was inferior to China’s single-party state.

In Behold the The Unusual Rise of Modern India, Saurabh Mukherjea and Nandita Rajhansa provide a gripping picture of how 1.5 billion Indians are combining to spectacular effect to create a range of social and economic outcomes which have no precedent in any emerging economy. For example, India now has as many chess grandmasters as the United States, and the expertise of its scientists has guided India’s space modules to the dark side of the moon, a feat no other country has achieved.

In this zeitgeist-defining book, the authors have also explored, through pathbreaking research, why the vast majority of India’s companies are struggling to grow their profits even as a small minority of these companies have gone on to build globe-girdling franchises worth tens of billions of dollars.

Written over two years, during which the authors crisscrossed India hundreds of times and interviewed over fifty of the country’s leading thinkers in business, policymaking, media, and academia, Behold the Leviathan has been hailed by the cognoscenti as 'a firecracker of a read,' challenging decision-makers, policymakers, and opinion leaders to reevaluate their long-standing perceptions of India's development.

Genres: India, Nonfiction

248 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 15, 2024

About the author

Saurabh Mukherjea is founder and chief investment officer of Marcellus Investment Managers. He is the former CEO of Ambit Capital and played a key role in Ambit’s rise as a broker and a wealth manager. When Mukherjea left Ambit in June 2018, assets under advisory were $800mn. Prior to Ambit, Saurabh was co-founder of Clear Capital, a London-based small-cap equity research firm that was created in 2003 and sold in 2008. He is a CFA charterholder with a BS in economics (with First Class Honours) and an MS in economics (with distinction in macroeconomics and microeconomics) from the London School of Economics.

Reviews

[Cheenu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was balanced - most interpretations of contemporary India are either too pessimistic or too optimistic.

The book starts off with a very abridged economic history of independent India.

Then the book explores some socioeconomic trends of the last 15 or so years in India and also makes some predictions for the next trends.

The four trends explored are the the rise of women, rise of an educated elite, the success of south India and the winner takes all structure of free markets where a few enjoy most of the profits.

Not exactly groundbreaking insights but it is good to see them fleshed out with statistics.

Then it proceeds on to three predictions namely China + 1, acceleration of outsourcing to India in non-IT sectors and the impact of unique made for India AI.

These sections are not as detailed as I'd like but provide a useful starting point for one's own research.

I also have my personal opinions on these (slightly positive on China + 1, neutral on acceleration of non-IT outsourcing to India and negative on made for India AI) but they might change after doing some more research.

If a superficial discussion of these topics sound interesting to you, I'd recommend it. Otherwise, just skip it.

[R MANOJ KUMAR SINGHVI · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read it because of Mukherjea previous books but this book did not do any justice . To call it a book will be an understatement. A collection of articles. Anyway, there are some insights on indian economy .

[Harish Senthil kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointment hits me hard when I think about what this book could have been. This book maps out few themes of change that are propelling Indian economy. It fails to provide arguments that are comprehensively supported by data. Anecdotes are semi-relevant to the topic of discussion. Inferences drawn from presented data seem superficial and inaccurate. Snippets from many different sources are cited to fill up pages. Facts, arguments and inferences repeat itself multiple times (especially about JAM trinity) letting the reader question his decision of spending time on this book.

P.S Reading this book after India@100 by Krishnamurty Subramanian which enriches the reader with fully developed arguments backed with bulletproof logic and data. It also provides actionable insights to lead indian economy on right path.

[Sakshi Sutar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent read about the Indian Economy. However, the same few ideas were repeated numerous times.

But overall, gives an optimistic view about India. The concepts discussed in the book are quite surface level, but the authors managed to touch base upon numerous relevant topics.

[Nitin Bhatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a collage of articles published on Marcellus website and doesn't stand alone on its own, like previous books.

[Ajit Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book to know about India's achievements socially and economically after Independence and especially after the LPG reforms of 1992 and in the past decade.

[Garima · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was ok. Doesn't give much information
So much repetition of information.

[Ray Doot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Candidly there was way more stats in here than I was prepared for. I learned a lot but was not expecting so many graphs and tables.