This book applies the Behavioral Economics lens to India, arguing that its complex social patterns and policy challenges are best understood as rational responses to historical scarcity and low institutional trust. The analysis centers on two defining behavioral engines: Collectivism, which drives social structures like the joint family as an effective risk-pooling strategy, and Jugaad (creative improvisation), which functions as the ultimate friction-reduction imperative to bypass bureaucratic hurdles. By framing the deepest cultural traditions from the preference for physical gold to the structure of the Caste system in terms of hidden incentives, the book provides a unique, objective framework for decoding the psyche of a billion people.

The study uses sharp policy case studies to test these principles against real-world outcomes. The failure of the 2016 Demonetization (DeMo) is dissected as a classic example of behaviorally illiterate policy that ignored deeply ingrained traits like Loss Aversion and the powerful role of Reciprocity Networks. Conversely, the exponential success of the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), particularly the UPI payments system, is hailed as a triumph of behavioral nudges, demonstrating how creating a zero-friction, highly convenient path can overcome decades of cash preference bias almost overnight.

Behavioral India concludes by exploring the modern challenges faced by Digital India and its aspirational youth. It shows how the traditional collectivist mindset translates into the digital age, where misinformation spreads rapidly because individuals prioritize sender trust (i.e., the khandaan or in-group) over source credibility. Ultimately, the book reveals India as the world's most fascinating behavioral science case study: a society where contradiction is the constant, and the creative hack (Jugaad) is the resilient, enduring rule of