Sanjeev Sanyal is building a 4th-century Gupta-era ship — because you cannot build a civilisation on economics alone.
In a candid pre-Swarajya Conclave conversation with Sangam Talks founder Rahul Dewan, economist and Economic Advisory Council member Sanjeev Sanyal reveals the animating vision behind projects that span economic policy, cultural history, and maritime archaeology. His project to reconstruct INS V Koundiniya — a 4th-century Gupta merchant vessel — is not a side interest but the same project as his six Economic Survey editions: both are acts of civilisational confidence-building.
Sanyal argues that China has never separated economic growth from cultural assertion — Confucius centres worldwide prove it — and that India’s peculiar failure has been allowing Indian communists to become de facto Chinese nationalists. He frames tourism, maritime heritage, education reform (as Chancellor of Gokhale Institute), and technology as inseparable pillars of the same civilisational project. The conversation is a masterclass in what integrated nation-building actually looks like in practice.
About the Speakers:
Sanjeev Sanyal is a leading Indian economist, historian, and member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. A Rhodes Scholar and former Global Strategist at Deutsche Bank, he now shapes India’s economic policy and global financial engagement. He was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2010. He is also a well-known environmentalist and urban theorist. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University, an Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore and a Senior Fellow of the Worldwide Fund for Nature. He is an accomplished writer of many critically acclaimed books.
Rahul Dewan is a tech entrepreneur, angel investor, blogger, social activist, and Yoga & Meditation practitioner. In 2016, he founded SangamTalks – the largest YouTube channel for documentation of ‘Indian Knowledge Systems’ (IKS) and untold Indian History. Having exited his software services business (600 people) successfully, he now dedicates his full time to Dharmic causes. He is currently on a mission to raise 1000 Crores for Hindu civilizational causes, and to campaign for making Hinduism Missionary again.
