For 1,500 years, India and China dominated world GDP — and the economic frameworks that produced that wealth were built on dharmic first principles, not market ideology.
At the book launch of Dharmanomics — the sequel to the bestselling Kautilyanomics — author Sriram Balasubramanian traces how dharma-based economic thinking evolved across the Chola, Pallava, Pandya, and Vijayanagara empires, as well as Cambodia and Vietnam, from the 3rd century BC through the 17th century CE. His framework identifies three consistent features across these kingdoms: dharmic trade ethics, iterative policy adaptation based on geographic and contextual realities, and the role of ports as civilisational nodes rather than purely commercial ones.
The panel — including Sanjeev Sanyal and Prof. Rajiv Malhotra — frames the book as both scholarship and a practical roadmap for Viksit Bharat 2047. Sanyal’s observation grounds the conversation: economists who don’t study history and historians who don’t study economics understand neither. Culture defines the framework in which humans think — and India’s extraordinary run as an economic superpower was downstream of its civilisational values, not despite them.

About the Speakers:
Sriram Balasubramanian is an economist and author focused on global macroeconomics, emerging markets, and Indic thought. He wrote Kautilyanomics and his forthcoming book is Dharmanomics.

Sanjeev Sanyal, Economic Advisor to the Government of India, is a renowned economist and best-selling author. He was formerly Global Strategist and MD at Deutsche Bank.

Prof. V.K. Malhotra is Member Secretary of the Indian Council of Social Science Research and former Head of Economics at C.C.S. University, Meerut. He authored the widely prescribed book Economics of Education.