What does it take to build in a country before the country fully believes in itself?
A Billion Bets is the story of India’s startup ecosystem through the entrepreneurs, investors, and companies that took outsized risks before success was certain. From the early internet pioneers and the birth of India’s venture ecosystem to the new generation of founders building for a digital India, venture capitalist Aviral Bhatnagar traces how a once-fragmented market became one of the world’s most dynamic engines of innovation and ambition.
Written from inside the ecosystem rather than from its sidelines, the book captures the uncertainty, improvisation, and conviction required to build in India across decades of transformation. Part business history, part investor insight, and part memoir, A Billion Bets is ultimately a story about the people who believed in India before the consensus did.
Archives: Books
The Art of Enduring
The decade 2015–25 was one that tested the resilience of corporate India as it battled one crisis after another—from demonetization to GST roll-out, from COVID-19 to trade wars and supply chain chaos. The Art of Enduring highlights companies that outpaced India’s GDP and generated returns on capital exceeding 15 per cent every year for a decade and a half, including the tumultuous period of 2015–25. From India’s
500 largest companies only five made the cut: Bajaj Finance, Titan, Dr Lal PathLabs, Divi’s Labs and Tata Elxsi. These companies are no strangers to crises, having turned decades of disruptions into formidable strengths and repeat success. Their triumphs were constructed by ordinary Indians whose hard work, intellect and passion achieved extraordinary outcomes. In these companies, one finds entrepreneurs like Dr Arvind Lal, who embraces spirituality over market capitalization, or professionals such as Bhaskar Bhat, Rajeev Jain and Om Manchanda, who redefined what hired CEOs can achieve. In an era of celebrity founders, these are the quiet compounders. A follow-up to the bestseller, The Unusual Billionaires, this book tells the stories of institutions that teach us the Art of Enduring.
Alchemy of Development | Politics of Well-Being
What if happiness is not a private pursuit, but a collective, political project?
Alchemy of Development centres transformation through new ways of seeing, being, and doing. Bridging development studies with diverse religio-philosophical worldviews, it reimagines well-being as interconnected and public. The result is a shift: from addressing the visible manifestations of a faulty growth paradigm – inequality, conflicts, and ecological collapse – to understanding the deeper causes that sustain these crises.
Exposing the deep-seated logic of separation and othering that normalizes exploitation of people and the planet, the book highlights interdependent, relational worldviews in which well-being is realized in the collective. Building on Bhutan’s development trajectory and drawing insights from across cultures, it advances a new politics of well-being.
Ultimately, Alchemy of Development is a call to rethink how we live, govern, and relate to one another and to the world.
Elemental Universality | Pandit Ved Lal Kaul Raz’s Finest Urdu Poems
Pt. Ved Lal Kaul Raz (1912–2010) lived for ninety-eight years—a life quietly marked by dignity, grace, and the brilliance of poetry. A universe of words, his verses glided with lyrical ease while bearing metaphors that touched the soul. This selection of his Urdu poetry navigates the delicate terrain of human emotion, blending subtlety with philosophical depth—exploring longing, regret, impermanence, and the transformative power of fleeting moments. Drawn from Kulyat-e-Raz, Gulgusht, and other compilations, the anthology reflects the unity and vision that define his enduring place in Urdu and Kashmiri literary tradition.
India’s Urban Expansion | Urban Planning, Infrastructure, and the Future Growth of Indian Cities
The city is breathing, but it is not alive.
India’s metropolitan dream is turning into a suffocating reality—choked skies, endless traffic, mounting waste, and infrastructure that promises relief but delivers more chaos. What looks like growth from afar feels like collapse from within. At the heart of this crisis lies the unending urban expansion paradox: every new flyover brings more cars, every expansion multiplies the density it was meant to ease. Our cities are not expanding to serve us—they are expanding to consume us.
But this is not a story of despair. It is a bold roadmap for change.
India’s Urban Expansion introduces the concept of the global readiness perimeter, offering a new framework to understand how Indian cities can move beyond reactive expansion toward deliberate, future-ready planning.
The Story Map
How well you tell a story decides how far your ideas travel and how well they are received. But most good ideas stay stuck inside the people who have them, because most of us believe that storytelling is a gift you’re born with—a natural talent you either have or you don’t.
The Story Map dispels that myth. Sandeep Nair spent fifteen years building brands worth hundreds of millions of dollars across India, the UK and Southeast Asia, where he learnt that storytelling is a system.
In this book, he distils that system into a simple framework: Soul, Body and Spirit. Soul tells you what to say. Body shows you how to organize it. Spirit tunes it to your audience and the moment.
For the professional who has something to say and needs to say it well, this book turns storytelling from talent into technique.
The Wisdom of Indian Saints
Through beautifully told tales, the book traces the personal journeys and selfless acts of saints from diverse traditions—Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Sufism.
Spanning centuries and regions, these stories feature saints whose lives were shaped by devotion, humility, and a deep commitment to serving others. Though rooted in different paths and practices, their experiences echo a shared truth—at the heart of every spiritual tradition lies the same call to love, kindness, and inner transformation.
Thoughtfully retold for modern readers, The Wisdom of Indian Saints invites us to look beyond differences and discover the universal principles that connect us all.
The Flipping Adventures of Ninja Nani (Flipbook 1)
WHO’S YO’ GRANNY?
What if your grumpy granny got zapped with superpowers and turned into . . . Ninja Nani?
Deepu is about to find out!
From chasing burglars in the dead of night to figuring out why his friends are turning into zombies, Deepu has one outrageous adventure after another—thanks to his unstoppable Ninja Nani.
Will they save the day? Will they catch some baddies? Will they make it home again?
Packed with action, mischief and madcap humour, this flipbook brings together two Ninja Nani adventures in one double dose of ninja madness!
HIYAAA!
Dara Shukoh
This expansive text on Dara Shukoh (1615-1659), crown prince and eldest son of Shah Jahan, addresses a vacuum in our history. While the great Mughals from Babur to Aurangzeb, have received constant attention, the poet-prince has largely been excised out of public memory and discourse.
A scholar, philosopher, and a patron of the arts, Dara Shukoh was known for his deep interest in mysticism and his efforts to bridge the gap between Hinduism and Islam. However, despite his intellectual prowess and progressive vision, Dara’s life was marked by political turmoil, culminating in his tragic defeat and execution by his brother Aurangzeb.
In this compelling re-examination, Amit Ranjan resurrects Dara’s enduring legacy of syncretism and cosmopolitanism, offering a nuanced portrait of the prince. By exploring the depths of his philosophy and the drama of his downfall, the book ponders a tantalizing counterfactual: What might have been—had Dara, not Aurangzeb, steered the course of history?
Watching Tigers
A View From the Machan
Is natural history a science? Are there scientific ways in which we can give wild animals a better chance of survival? How does conservation actually work? Ullas Karanth has been evolving practical, science-based conservation solutions for over a quarter of a century. He has developed camera-trap sampling techniques that are now employed to monitor predators such as tigers, jaguars, cheetahs, and leopards across the world. His book provides a unique insight into wildlife conservation from the perspective of an internationally renowned tiger biologist.
The Way of the Tiger
The seemingly solitary life of the tiger, and the ferocious intensity of its attacks, are legendary. But sadly, the existence of this massive cat is threatened by human encroachment.
The Way of the Tiger, written by India’s foremost tiger specialist, presents scientific insights and information on the world’s tiger species in a readable text that will appeal to a popular audience.