Where is India going today? Is it surging forward, having just overtaken the United Kingdom to become the fifth-largest economy in the world? Or is it flailing, unable to provide jobs for the millions joining the labor force? What should India do to secure a better future? India is at a crossroads today. Its growth rate, while respectable relative to other large countries, is too low for the jobs the youth need. Intense competition in low-skilled manufacturing, increasing protectionism globally and growing automation make the situation still more difficult.

In Breaking the Mould, authors Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba explain how it is possible to accelerate economic development by investing in India’s human capital, expanding opportunities in high-skilled services and manufacturing centered on innovative new products, and making India a ferment of ideas and creativity. They urge India to break free from the shackles of the past and look to the possibilities of the future.

About the Speakers
Raghuram Rajan is the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School. He was the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (2013-2016), vice-chairman of the Board of the Bank for International Settlements (2015-16) and chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (2003-2006). Dr. Rajan’s research interests are in banking, corporate finance and economic development. His book Fault Lines won the Financial Times prize for best business book in 2010 and The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Hold the Community Behind, was a finalist for the award in 2019.

Rohit Lamba is an assistant professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University and a visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at New York University Abu Dhabi. He received a Ph.D. in economics at Princeton University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge. He also taught at the University of Pennsylvania and worked as an economist at the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. Dr. Lamba publishes regularly in academic journals and popular media. 

This program is free, but advance registration is required. Registered guests will receive the link prior to the program. The first 100 guests will receive a FREE electronic copy of the book, courtesy of the Fordham Gabelli Center for Global Security Analysis.