The Making of India chronicles the journey of India’s demographic dividend through the varied transitions taking place in the economy. The forces shaping India’s job market, its cities, its industry and agriculture and its equation with the rest of the world come from expected and unexpected places, heralding massive opportunities and challenges for citizens, government and investors. Indians face a significant private cost of public failure. Across its public goods like power, roads, water, education, health and security, Indians have been offered poor outcomes as prices have been kept low in the name of the poor. Throughout the book, we encounter pricing distortions made by the iron hand of the government (either making something cheap relative to its market price or more expensive) which has swayed incentives and outcomes in various sectors. As India dismantles these distortions, it gives rise to opportunities for those willing to harness this change. As the identity of Indian citizens and their money digitizes, how Indians interact with each other and their government in changing for the better. Increased material prosperity of Indians, especially if the gains are well-shared, will force a radical rethink of India’s consumption market.
