Caste often plays a similar role, especially in the north of the country, where major business families are mostly drawn from just a handful of castes and communities. Some are Brahmins like Vijay Mallya, a proud member of a sub-caste known as Goud Saraswat Brahmins, or GSBs. But more numerous are the Banias and Marwaris, the two trading groups which dominate the upper reaches of each year’s Forbes billionaire list, and which include among their number the Ambanis, Gautam Adani, and the Ruia brothers of Essar.
