A page from the GST book: a chart comparing a trader’s year (₹35.4 lakh) against the ₹40 lakh line where GST registration becomes compulsory for goods, above a photograph of Kulkarni Electricals, a hardware shop in Kolhapur, where Meena stands at the counter between two men — one holding an invoice, the other asking about a repair — with labels giving last year’s sales, the shop’s monthly take, and a second order from Belagavi, Karnataka.

Manthika Business: starting and running a business in India.

Books for the person who decides and pays: the owner of a shop, the founder with a product, the worker going out on her own. The rules, the money and the decisions, worked on the page for a business like yours.

None of the books is out yet. Three are being written; the first reaches Kindle late 2026. Every title below has a tell-me-when link.

Tell me when a book is out

Who the books are for

Three readers, cut by what they already know

Starting from a trade

You have a skill, or a lakh or two and a place in mind. A book per step, from the first job to your own shop, in Hindi and English.

Running a business

You know your customers, your margin and your suppliers. What you lack is the regime: tax, accounts, labour, contracts. A book per regime, decisions ranked by what each costs.

Building a product

You can build, and probably sell. What you lack is what a shop owner knows natively, and the rules across India, the US and Europe. A book per question, with the fork worked for each country.

Being written now

A placement question from the hidden GST pilot, asking which of three mistakes a business causes itself, not the supply chain

GST for Business Owners

What a business does to itself under GST, decision by decision, with the rupee cost worked on the page. Read by two chartered accountants before it ships.

Being written; first to Kindle, late 2026

A 200-page draft exists and is being checked; no page to show yet.

IP for Software Founders

What you own and what you owe others: code, brand, data and contracts, with the India, US and EU answer to each question and one decided case per chapter.

Being written; Kindle early 2027

A page from the Hindi salon-work book’s opening story: a dot chart counting eighty clients in a month, three remembered by name

Salon work, step 2: good at the job

The second of five steps for a salon worker, from the first job to her own parlour, in Hindi and English. The independent rungs, step 3 and step 4, follow.

Being written in Hindi and English

How a trade ladder works

A book per step

Salon work is the first ladder. Singing is next, starting at step 0.

Step 0
is this work for you
Step 1
the first job
Step 2
good at the job
Step 3
on your own
Step 4
your own place

Every title, and where it stands

The list

Titles are added one line at a time. A title is planned when its folder opens; until then it is a candidate. Tell us which one you want and we will write to you when it is out.

For business owners

12 titles, one line each, with a tell-me-when link.

Title	State
GST for Business Owners	Being written	Tell me when
Income tax for Business Owners	Candidate	Tell me when
Your accounts, read as the owner	Candidate	Tell me when
Getting paid	Candidate	Tell me when
Your first hires	Candidate	Tell me when
Which form your business takes	Candidate	Tell me when
Borrowing for your business	Candidate	Tell me when
Selling to the public	Candidate	Tell me when
The notice	Candidate	Tell me when
Dealing with people: customers, employees, officials, vendors	Candidate	Tell me when
Family in the business	Candidate	Tell me when
The MBA for your own business	Planned, 2027	Tell me when

For software founders

9 titles, one line each, with a tell-me-when link.

Title	State
IP for Software Founders: what you own, and what you owe others	Being written	Tell me when
Where your company lives	Candidate	Tell me when
What you give up when you take money	Candidate	Tell me when
Your customer’s data	Candidate	Tell me when
Tax and money across borders	Candidate	Tell me when
Hiring across borders	Candidate	Tell me when
What you owe your customer	Candidate	Tell me when
Selling, being bought, shutting down	Candidate	Tell me when
What a business is, for someone who can build a product	Candidate	Tell me when

For a trade or a profession

7 titles, one line each, with a tell-me-when link.

Title	State
Salon work, step 1: first job	Planned, 2027	Tell me when
Salon work, step 2: good at the job	Being written	Tell me when
Salon work, step 3: on your own	Planned, 2027	Tell me when
Salon work, step 4: your own parlour	Planned, 2027	Tell me when
Salon work, step 0: is this for you	Candidate	Tell me when
Singing, step 0: is this for you	Candidate	Tell me when
Earning on your own: choosing and testing	Candidate	Tell me when

Why these books

India has always worked for itself

For most of its history, India worked for itself: the farmer, the weaver, the trader, the shopkeeper earned from their own hands and their own customers. Six working people in ten still do. The idea that a working life means a job, with a salary and a pension, is about a hundred years old here, and that job is losing its safety.

The knowledge of how to do that was never written down for them; what exists is written for the accountant, the law student, the MBA and the investor, or is a blog written to sell you a loan.

These books are written from the chair of the person who decides, and who pays when the decision is wrong. They do not replace your accountant or your lawyer. They change what you bring to them.

Presenter, Mohnish