It is now widely accepted that the lower castes have
risen in Indian politics. Has there been a corresponding
change in the economy? Using comprehensive data
on enterprise ownership from the Economic Census
of 1990, 1998 and 2005, this paper shows there are
substantial caste differences in entrepreneurship across
India. The scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are
significantly under-represented in the ownership of
enterprises and the share of the workforce employed by
them. These differences are widespread across all states,
have decreased very modestly between 1990 and 2005,
and cannot be attributed to broad differences in access
to physical or human capital.