Book review: India Inc, by Vikas Pota
These profiles of the country's top entrepreneurs are randomly selected and over-hyped, reports John Elliott.
This book is an uncritical survey of 10 randomly selected Indian businessmen. True to his trade in public relations, Vikas Pota, who runs corporate communications firm Saffron Chase, has written an over-hyped and far from complete picture of those he has chosen.
India's business scene has been transformed since 1991, when its main economic reforms began. Before then, most of the old business families that dominated industry and commerce used government controls to block competitors, obtain licences for products they might or might not produce, and then engineer shortages to ensure high prices and profits - and dissatisfied customers.
Most of the top names have changed, though Tata - one of India's two biggest groups - remains firmly in place, along with Reliance and a branch of the once all-powerful and widely diversified Birla.
