The anti-corruption movement in 2013 brought to the fore societal concerns about the growth of corruption in India. Two major controversial events that catalysed this movement, the Coal scam and the 2G scam (related to the allocation of coal mines and 2G spectrum, respectively, by the government), highlighted the close links between politicians and the bureaucracy, and large business houses, leading to a labelling of this phenomenon as crony capitalism. Not surprisingly, this has led to increased interest among academics in the phenomenon of crony capitalism in India.

Some prominent organisational scholars came together to organise a symposium on the “Indian Brand of Crony Capitalism” at the Academy of Management Conference in Philadelphia in 2014. This book represents further development on the conference papers plus some contributions from other scholars.