V.Venkatesan reviews Harish Damodaran’s India’s New Capitalists: Caste, Business and Industry in a Modern Nation-State, a book which ‘traces the modern-day evolution of business communities’ in India

This near-synonymous identification of business with the Bania and vice versa has, however, undergone significant dilution since the early part of the 20th century, which saw the entry of a number of businessmen from the ranks of the Brahmins, Khatris and similar castes with predominantly scribal or administrative background. The post-Independence period has witnessed a further widening of the social base of Indian capital to include various agrarian and allied service castes such as the Kammas, Naidus, Reddys, Rajus, Gounders, Nadars, Ezhavas, Patidars, Marathas and Ramgarhias. As a result, entrepreneurship is today no longer the exclusive bastion of the old mercantile groups: whether Banias, Jains and Marwaris or Sindhis, Lohanas, Bhatias, Parsis, Nattukottai Chettiars, Kutchi Memons, Khojas and Bohras. Capital’s social profile has expanded considerably beyond the Bania-plus complex to incorporate a wide spectrum of communities.