The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age by James Crabtree

The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age by James Crabtree is an exploration of how India has become the most unequal nation in Asia, fueled by unrestrained capitalism and an elite that safeguards their power while millions of its poor are left behind. Through personal accounts, interviews with high-profile individuals, and in-depth research, Crabtree takes the reader on a journey to uncover its secrets and often-condemned addiction to wealth.

This book is split into three sections, beginning with a look at India’s past. Starting from when East India Company arrived in 1608, Crabtree explains the tumultuous years from the colonial rule to Gandhi’s struggle for freedom, India’s brief flirtation with socialism, and the sweeping economic reforms of 1991 that jumpstarted its transition to becoming a 21st century power. Through these periods, Crabtree demonstrates India’s history of inequality and how the rapid growth of a small elite has remained mostly unchanged.

The second section moves to modern India and its billionaire boom, where almost nine in ten of new millionaires made their fortune within the last decade. Through this part, Crabtree investigates the corporate politics, crony capitalism, and tech moguls behind it all, as well as India’s current attitude towards wealth, both from the perspective of its privileged and its have-nots.

The third and final section focuses on the impact of this wealth disparity has on Indian society. With little in terms of welfare safety net for the impoverished, Crabtree looks at the inequality in health care and education, forced migration and environmental degradation, and the systemic poverty that has stunted India’s social and economic progress.

Using extensive research and interviews, Crabtree pulls back the curtain on the underlying themes of India’s ‘Billionaire Raj’, explaining how its current economic wealth is held in an iron grip of a few. Though some have argued that Bangladesh and China are the new land of opportunity and India has fallen by the wayside, the narrative Crabtree paints makes it clear that India still serves as a cautionary tale and a warning of what unchecked capitalism and inequality can do.

At its core, The Billionaire Raj is a study of wealth and power in today’s India. Though it may not provide an easy solution to the long-lasting issues of classism, Crabtree’s analysis provides an important look into one of the world’s most rapidly developing and complex countries. For those wanting to learn more about the country that has become a booming global powerhouse and the elite that have made it possible, The Billionaire Raj is an eye-opening read.