Global investor, analyst, author and an expert, who reveals the big picture on socio-economic and political issues vividly, Ruchir Sharma wrote in his latest book that governments have made capitalism less fair and less efficient and that is slowing economic growth and fuelling popular anger.
Sharma, Chairman of Rockefeller International and Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Breakout Capital, an investment firm focused on emerging markets, is the guest at the Express Adda in Mumbai on Tuesday. He will share his views on capitalism and factors that are going to shape global as well as domestic economies in the near future.
His perspectives are being followed by policy makers and investors across the globe. At the Express Adda, Sharma will be in conversation with Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group, and K V Kamath, Chairman, National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) and Chairman, Jio Financial Services.
In his latest book, What Went Wrong with Capitalism, which was released in June, Sharma says progressives are right in part when they mock modern capitalism as “socialism for the rich”.
“Inadvertently, they (governments) have fuelled the rise of monopolies, “zombie” firms, and billionaires. The first step to a cure is a correct diagnose of the problem. Capitalism has been badly distorted by constant government intervention and the relentless spread of a bailout culture. Building an even bigger state will only double down on what ruined capitalism in the first place,” he says in the book.
Sharma has authored four more books — The 10 Rules of Successful Nations; Democracy on the Road; The Rise and Fall of Nations; and Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles.
Sharma moved to Rockefeller in 2022 after a 25-year career at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he was Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist. He was responsible for managing nearly $20 billion in assets.
Primarily based in New York and Miami, Sharma travels frequently to different countries, meeting with leading politicians, CEOs, and other local characters, who feature in his writing.
He is passionate about politics and has covered every national election in India, and many major state contests, since 1998. He led the first trip with three journalist friends, and the pack has since grown to 20 regulars and a few guest travellers. They typically travel more than 1,000 miles over a week, and have interviewed everyone from local voters to national leaders, including Narendra Modi and the Gandhis. These travels are captured in his 2019 book, ‘Democracy on the Road’.
Sharma’s other interests include athletics — he continues to train for 100 m and 200 m sprints. No matter where he is, or how hectic his schedule is, he tries not to miss a single day of training. In 2011, he represented India in the World Masters Athletic Championship in Sacramento. He also has a keen interest in wildlife and cinema and attends international film festivals when he finds time.
Sharma is a contributing opinion writer at The Financial Times. His work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian and Foreign Policy.
In an earlier conversation at Express Adda in 2023, Sharma had said that India was witnessing the fourth wave of foreign inflows since the 1991 economic reforms, with at least 50 per cent of that coming due to the weakness in the Chinese economy.
The Express Adda is a series of informal interactions organised by The Indian Express Group and features those at the centre of change. Previous guests at the Adda include External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Union Ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Hardeep Singh Puri, cricket icons Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, chess legend Viswanathan Anand, Olympic gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra and motivational strategist Gaur Gopal Das.
Ruchir Sharma (Right), author of “What Went Wrong with Capitalism” interacts with KV Kamath, Chairman of National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development and Anant Goenka, Executive Director of The Indian Express Group, during IE Adda, at Taj President, Mumbai. (Express photo by Narendra Vaskar) 
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