Indian Philosophy and Business Ethics: A Review

“Ethics” was once considered irrelevant by corporate loyalists, but now discussion of it is increasingly seen as not only important but also as critical to a company’s success. The paper is a theoretical review. The purpose and objective of the paper is to explore and understand the meaning of business ethics in the context of Indian philosophical thought. The study focuses mainly on the contribution of Hindu philosophical thought though makes reference to other philosophical thoughts namely Buddhism, Jainism and Arthashastra. The discussion is divided into four sub-sections. In the first section an attempt has been made to understand the broad characteristics of Indian philosophy and ethics. In the second section a brief outline of management ethos in Indian philosophy has been given. In the third part an attempt has been made to find the relevance of Philosophical ethics to modern corporate governance. And finally the last section deals with individual ethics in Indian philosophy. The entire discussion revolves around the axis of establishing link and relevance between Indian ethics, as found in Indian philosophy and modern business ethics. JEL classification numbers: JEL: Z12