A Study in Scams

If you want to make money in India, you can either work hard for forty years, or start a company that does absolutely nothing. A Study in Scams strips away the glossy public relations of the Indian startup ecosystem to reveal a dark, unregulated underworld of bot-farms, algorithmic stock manipulation, and shadow consultants. The story follows Vatsal “Vats” Sharma, a by-the-books Vice President at a top venture capital firm, whose worldview shatters when he crosses paths with Shlok Rathore—an eccentric, mathematically terrifying “Revenue Architect.” Together, they discover that India’s hottest unicorns are secretly built on a “Universal Fraud Engine” designed by an untouchable billionaire puppet-master. Driven by a desire for vengeance, Shlok drags a terrified but fascinated Vats into a series of escalating financial heists. They crash elite art auctions, sabotage offshore bank transfers, and weaponize electric bus fleets to trigger massive stock market margin calls. But as the lines between justice and crime blur, Vats must decide how much of his own soul he is willing to liquidate. Blending the breakneck pacing of a thriller with biting corporate satire, this novel exposes the chilling reality of modern valuation.