Rating: 
Summary: marvellous
Review: A well written and passionate summary of economic and political changes in India since independence. It was an eye-opener in many ways: readers of Ayn Rand would appreciate parallels to situations described in Atlas Shrugged. Coming from a former CEO of P&G India, the book offers a useful perspective on economic policies and changes over the last few decades. Though often repititive in its ranting against policies of earlier Indian governments, the book is still fairly engrossing.
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Summary: I had mixed feelings about the book.
Review: As a regular reader of Mr. Das' column in the Times of India, I always liked his sense of optimism in spite of his awareness of the problems in India. However, I had mixed feelings about his book - India Unbound. There is a lot of repetition of the same stories in the book. The stories of Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Birla and Tatas are told quite often.I also don't know what Mr. Das was aiming as his target audience. He always quotes currency in dollars, not Rupees. So I presume he was trying to tell the story of India to someone in the West. If that is the case, a westerner might get confused because of the many contradictions in the book. At times the Author seems to suggest, the India did not have an Industrial revolution. At other places, he commends the Marwaris for creating a great Industrial revolution. There are paragraphs, which seem to suggest, that the British depleted India's wealth. And there are paragraphs, which say that they did not. If the Intended audience was someone in the West, they might also get bored with the stories of Birla, Narayana Murthy et al, because they have their own heroes in business, who have done much better. In spite of some of these problems, Mr. Das does manage to tell an interesting story about India's Economy. I desperately hope that India will go ahead with the reforms initiated in 1991. This book might be necessary for all our politicians and bureaucrats in India, who are in charge of making policies. Its high time they realized that if a state owned electricity board is continuously making losses, it is the people of India who have to ultimately eat the loss. We pay for the loss through bad roads and bad schools.
Rating: 
Summary: On the slow but steady road to prosperity
Review: As former CEO of Procter & Gamble in India, Gurcharan Das seems eminently qualified to describe how policy reforms in the early 1990s finally broke the stranglehold of the License Raj on Indian's enormous economic potential. His prognosis that half of India could turn middle class by the first quarter of this century, while somewhat optimistic, is not out of line with what many analysts agree is certainly possible. Much of this book is an indictment of past policy failures and an relatively upbeat assesment of India's future economic prospects. Das delivers this in elegant, readable prose with analysis which is generally well backed by statistics. There are many quotable extracts from this book, but I will limit myself to one which draws from his comparison of India's economic performance to the faster growing East Asian economies until the onset of the 1997 crisis QUOTE India did not participate in this great adventure. We grew up believing that our mixed economy - the mixture of socialism and the free market that grew out of Jawaharlal Nehru's idealist vision - though not as efficient as capitalism, was better because it cared for the poor. It was better than communism because it preserved political freedoms. But its problem was of performance, not of faith. If it had worked, most of the Third World would be more prosperous today. Indians have learned from painful experience that the state does not work on behalf of the people. More often than not, it works on behalf of itself. UNQUOTE Not having grown up in India, I am less sure whether readers in India will find many parts of this book as informative as it certainly will be for many, if not most foreign readers. But they will surely share much of Das' view that a profound transformational change is underway in this nation, even if its boat to prosperity has been slower than elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book; must be read by every Indian
Review: Gurcharan Das has written an extrememly well-researched and objective book of the progress India has made in the last decade since the reforms of 1991. He lays out his thesis (that 80% of Indians will be at least at the middle class level by 2040) very clearly and backs it up with facts. Mr. Das also points out the areas in which India needs to improve to achieve Vision 2020 as laid out by President Kalam and Prime Minister Vajpayee. "India Unbound" is a must read for every Indian, alongwith "Wings of Fire" by APJ Abdul Kalam.
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Summary: Excellent Reading - Must Read to learn about India
Review: If you have read "Perilious Road to Market" by Prem Shankar Jha, then this is a must read for you. The book actually continues the discussion where Jha's book ends.
Gurcharan Das has done a commendable job about analyzing the history, culture and basic life of India and its people. And more importantly, he has been able to relate this analysis with the economic performance of the country. There is no doubt that its people of a country who actually determine the economic, social and political character of the country. And Das has been able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Indians and relate it to the economic performance of the country. His assumptions are very sound and logical and hence, I don't have any major contradictions when he talks about the future of the country. To top it all, Das has thrown his own experience and observations in a very easy to read language without distorting any fact or his analysis.
In short, it is a book that you must read if you want to read about India of past and future. If you are looking for a book that will talk about the life of India or about general economic trends about India then this is not for you.
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Summary: Das is a thorough Pollyanna
Review: India Unbound presents a thesis which is good to read but might not be as practical as one would like. Das has definitely written a highly readable commentary and for that he gets the four stars. The material is anecdotal and is highly redundant at times. He keeps repeating themes throughout the book which might be deliberate to drive the point home.
All in all a good read for anyone interested in India economics and a good dose of why capitalism-is-good-for-all rhetoric. Now, if only the Indian youth actually reads this book.
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Summary: Understanding Indian political Economics.
Review: Its a wonderful book for all those who are interested in India or for that matter even those who aren't.I'm sure in the last decade or so Indian Economy has shown promising growth, which makes it impossible to undermine importance of India in overall Global trade.
This book throws light on the economic path that India followed after Independence and the influence of Politics in the initial phase and the absence of the same on the Economy in the last few years.
Very good reading with sound analytical observations.
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Summary: The Indian economy - Explained
Review: This book covers India over a broad enough frame of time .. the last 50 years since Independence. Since the author has worked in industry .. his views have a practical perspective. It also throws light on doyens of Indian industry the Birlas, the Tatas , the Amabanis.. and their efforts to power growth and simultaneously battle the bureaucracy.
The author has made a convincing attempt at pointing out the ills of bureaucracy and licensing .. and their effects in keeping economic growth down. The book makes good reading , an understanding of fundamental economics is unnecessary and anyone who has an interest in India should find this book a very good read .
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Summary: Growth Unlimited - India Unbound
Review: This book has become one of my favourite for two reasons. 1.) The author has written it in such an engrossing way(full of anecdotes) that you crave for more at the end of every chapter.
2.) It talks about present India.
This book does not give a picture (snake charmers, elephants, magicians, poverty...)which has been depicted for years. India Unbound traces meteoric rise of India after liberalisation and explores the reason behind it in Indian culture and tradition. It talks about deep rooted culture of Indian Business Community which has survived everything to see this day. I recommend India Unbound to everybody who wants to understand present Indian scenario. A must read for all.
Rating:
Summary: marvellous
Review: This is "must" read book for , who doesn't know India and who does. Thanks
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