The 2025 Gaja Business Book Prize Shortlist featured a diverse and compelling set of stories, showcasing the expanding pantheon of Indian business literature. Among the shortlisted books were “Accelerating India’s Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance” by Karthik Muralidharan; “The Rise of Asian Paints: Champaklal Choksey, A Doyen of the Indian Paints Industry” by Anupam Gupta; “Engineering a Nation: The Life and Career of M. Visvesvaraya (1861-1962)” by Aparajith Ramnath; “The Tanishq Story: Inside India’s No.1 Jewellery Brand” by C.K. Venkataraman; and “The Startup Code: Taking Your Company from Seed to Scale” by Mukesh Bansal.
The Gaja Capital Business Book Prize 2025 was awarded to “Accelerating India’s Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance” by renowned Indian economist Karthik Muralidharan, for its rigorous and accessible blueprint to unlock India’s next phase of growth through stronger state capacity and effective public service delivery. The landmark work systematically examines India’s governance challenges, especially in education, health, social protection, and jobs and sets out evidence-based, state-level reform strategies to ensure that growth translates into widespread improvements in citizens’ lives.