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"In Unshackling India, Chhibber and Soz, draw on their experiences across the world and their intimate knowledge of India to paint a vision of the economy that India deserves. This is an extremely readable primer to the key challenges that the Indian economy will face in the post-pandemic world, and the bold policy reforms it needs to address them. It will be an important contribution to the political momentum
for change." Raghuram Rajan, Professor, University of Chicago Booth School |
"For any one interested in the economic history of India from after Independence to now this is the book to read. An objective analysis of our economic journey through the decades of Independence. The last half decade has been specially disappointing. A huge opportunity provided by both domestic and global factors has been wasted by a government busy with only event and headline management."
Yashwant Sinha, Former Minister of Finance and Minister of External Affairs |
‘In Unshackling India, economists Ajay Chhibber and Salman Soz
provide a highly readable, wide-ranging, and thorough overview of the reforms needed for the Indian economy to reach its full potential and deliver greater prosperity for its 1.4 billion citizens. Ranging from second generation reforms, to concerns about gender, climate, health, education, state capacity and other challenges, Chhibber and Soz offer practical steps that can be taken now to spur growth and more inclusive development. They notably highlight the urgency of the present moment, in the wake of COVID-19, against a worsening global climate, and at a time when a manufacturing-led pathway to prosperity can no longer be taken for granted. A must-read for all who care about India’s future.’ Alyssa Ayres, Dean, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University |
"As the Modi-led NDA reaches the end of an underwhelming term, Salman Soz eviscerates its economics in prose that is refreshingly accessible, engaging and lucid. The Great Disappointment offers a straightforward and timely appraisal of 5 years of confused economic policy-making and catalogues the great opportunities squandered by the ruling dispensation. In this masterful, far-reaching volume, Salman Soz seals his credentials as one of contemporary India's most authoritative voices on the state of our political economy."
Shashi Tharoor. Author and Member of Parliament |
"Can India have the largest economy in the world? Yes, it can! Yet, success is never easy. Ajay Chhibber and Salman Soz have done India a huge service by documenting comprehensively the reforms—both painful and painless—India should undertake. India should set aside its partisan divides and heed their wise advice. India should not rely only on its US$2.7 trillion market when a global market of US$80 trillion beckons. If overseas Indians can compete successfully in global markets, so can India. And if India bravely jumps into global markets, India’s economy could explode. Seize the moment."
Kishore Mahbubani, Founding Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, author of Has China Won? |
‘Ajay Chhibber and Salman Soz make an urgent and pressing case
for India’s policymakers to fully and frontally confront long ignored realities about the Indian economy—its fragility, structural inequality, low levels of state capacity which have been made especially visible in the ravages of COVID-19. In this rigorously argued yet accessible book the authors place a much-needed spotlight on the challenge and offer important and often provocative policy prescriptions. Engaging with these provocations is crucial if India is to find her way back to sustainable growth. A must read for all those committed to the idea of a growing, resilient India and especially for those in the corridors of policymaking.’ Yamini Aiyar, President, Center for Policy Research |
"Big picture, colourfully detailed, hugely ambitious. Ajay Chhibber and
Salman Anees Soz offer a bold blueprint for how India could become a much higher income nation in twenty-five years.’ Ruchir Sharma, global investor and author of Rise and Fall of Nations and Break-out Nations |
"If you want to understand why India’s economy, lauded only a decade
ago as one of the most dynamic in the world, is now ailing, and what it will take to fix it, Unshackling India is the book to read. In clear and direct language, without resorting to economic jargon, Ajay Chhibber and Salman Anees Soz present a sweeping agenda of reforms to reinvigorate growth and share the benefits more equitably—in their words to make the country both more prosperous and happier." Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lords of Finance:Bankers Who Broke the World |
‘Ajay Chhibber and Salman Anees Soz have written a truly wonderful
book on India’s current economic predicament and the way forward to achieving shared prosperity by 2047. It’s a big book, but every page is lucidly written and worth reading. Packed with a wealth of information and clear, persuasive analysis backed by thorough research, this book is a must read for anyone interested in the future that India deserves, be they scholars, policymakers, students or thinking citizens.’ —Shankar Acharya, former Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, author of An Economist at Home and Abroad |
"In The Great Disappointment, Salman Soz prosecutes a sustained, empirical critique of the Modi government's stewardship of the economy. With lucid prose and rich detail, Soz provokes a timely debate that every Indian has a stake in."
Milan Vaishnav, Senior Fellow and Director of the South Asia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |
“In The Great Disappointment, Salman Soz has placed his finger unerringly on the single most intriguing political economy question of our times: How did Narendra Modi, elected with such fanfare to transform the Indian economy, end up wasting the opportunity of a lifetime? This book is a must read for anyone with a serious interest in the Indian economy.” Sadanand Dhume, Columnist, Wall Street Journal and Resident Fellow American Enterprise Institute |
‘This book is outstanding because it does not just present a vision of
a happier, more inclusive and prosperous society by the hundredth anniversary of independence but also a very specific roadmap to attain it. Besides relying on a wide range of studies and data sources it also enriches the discussion with very relevant international comparisons. An old timer like me learnt a lot from it and one hopes that it will be read by all who influence India’s development policy.’ Nitin Desai, former Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations |