The book presents a comprehensive and in-depth exploration of various social dimensions of entrepreneurship in India. It covers a wide spectrum from the emergence of capitalism in India with the establishment of East India Company to post-pandemic times. This journey of over four hundred years has not remained a continuous evolutionary process, rather a bouncy road with lot of cleavages of social and political concerns. The foundation of the basic arguments is laid on the interrelationship and interdependency of economy and society in any era of development and the bridge in between is the entrepreneur. The basic framework of the book is along the prevailing dichotomous arguments – one, entrepreneurs are born, that is they have some hereditary traits of being entrepreneurs and second, entrepreneurs are created or groomed to be so through skill development, training and education. Both the viewpoints are coterminous and parallel in the context of Indian entrepreneurship. The much relevance of business communities, families and groups to entrepreneurship development in India has been reinforced and sustained by new entrepreneurs across gender, caste and class. The governments in post-independent era have been laying down the plans and policies for inclusive and sustainable development of entrepreneurship in India. The book will be useful for both the students and researchers in the area of entrepreneurship. CONTENTS Introduction: Economy and Society: An Interrelationship Section I: Theorizing Entrepreneurship 1 Conceptualizing Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship 2 Foundations of Entrepreneurship 3 Innovation and Entrepreneurship 4 Development of Indian Entrepreneurship Section II : Role of Social Capital in Entrepreneurship Development 5 The Role of Social Capital in Entrepreneurship Development – I 6 Role of Social Capital in Entrepreneurship Development – II Section III : Entrepreneurship across Gender, Caste and Class 7 Women Entrepreneurs: Empowerment and Development 8 Entrepreneurship Development Among Marginalized Communities Section IV : Emerging Trends in Entrepreneurship 9 Concept and Process of Rural Entrepreneurship 10 Social Entrepreneurship 11 Diaspora in Entrepreneurship Section V : Role of State in Entrepreneurship Development 12 Government Initiatives for Entrepreneurship Development 13 Globalization and Entrepreneurship 14 Challenges and Constraints for Entrepreneurship Development in India 15 Conclusion ABOUT THE AUTHOR / EDITOR Gurpreet Bal is former Professor of Sociology, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. During her tenure at the university she occupied positions of Head of the Department, Dean Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences besides carrying on a number of other responsible positions in the university and member of various academic bodies of other institutions. Her broad areas of teaching and research have been Economic Sociology, Sociology of Work, and Entrepreneurship in India alongside Gender and Diaspora Studies. Some of her works are: Development and Change in Punjab, Strategies of Social Change in India (co-authored), Mapping Dalits: Contemporary Reality and Future Prospects (co-authored), and Contemporary Gender Issues: Identity, Status and Empowerment. She has widely published in various national and international journals.