Schumpeter The silence of the Bollygarchs

摘要

For those who prefer reading magazines rather than balance-sheets, the recent covers of India's glossies have been a sight to behold. In April, Tina Ambani, the wife of a billionaire industrialist, Anil, appeared in Hello magazine, draped across a luxury boat off Mumbai's shore. In July the son of Vijay Mallya, the boss of the troubled Kingfisher beer-to-airlines empire, graced the cover of Men's Health, topless, and preaching the merits of being well groomed in "all" departments. Clearly no one has told them that India's boom is sputtering. The market value of those two groups has fallen by $62 billion from the peak. The celebrity culture surrounding India's tycoons and their families can sometimes seem like that of a decadent elite with no interest in the country's ebbing economic fortunes and political gridlock. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. They do worry, but feel oddly unsure of their footing.