Caste affiliation and access to high-authority jobs in the Indian service sector

Arun Kumar Bairwa and Jadhav Chakradhar

Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 2025, vol. 30, issue 4, 1228-1254

Abstract: Restricting high authority jobs to a specific section of society leads to market inefficiencies, resulting in higher costs and lower quality of goods and services due to suboptimal management. Moreover, such favouritism exacerbates social inequalities across occupational hierarchies. Given India’s caste-based societal structure, it is crucial to investigate whether all social groups have equal access to top management and leadership positions. Using the 2019–2020 Periodic Labour Force Survey and binary logit models, this study reveals significant disparities in securing high-authority roles between lower and upper castes. The results show an average marginal effect of −7.3% for lower castes relative to upper castes. These disparities are further amplified if the lower caste individual is female, resides in a urban area, or holds a graduate-level education.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/13547860.2024.2401220

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