Hyderabad, Jan. 21 -- When business leaders from pharma, agriculture, energy, healthcare, manufacturing and law came together for the fourth roundtable discussion of the Mint Leadership Dialogues-Season 2 in Hyderabad, the opening question was deceptively simple: from an Indian economy perspective, what is the single biggest risk?

The answers, however, quickly revealed the depth and persistence of India's structural challenges-and why many of them have proved stubbornly resistant to change despite decades of economic growth.

"Disparity in incomes," said N. Balasubramanian, chief executive officer (CEO) of Sresta Natural Bioproducts, setting the tone for a conversation that repeatedly returned to the uneven distribution of growth, fragil...