Business and management academics in South Asia are a fairly homogenous group of scholars drawn from the top-end of the caste hierarchy. For example, less than one in 10 million people from the lower castes (estimated to be between 70 to 80 percent of India’s population) have become management academics in the ‘elite schools’ of India.

Further, although statistics are not available, individuals from other groups too are underrepresented (e.g., women, religious minorities, sexual minorities, and people with disabilities and functional impairments). While the entry of individuals from the underrepresented populations into management academia is uncommon, their survival and success are exceptionally rare because they may lack not only economic capital but also social and cultural capital required to succeed.