The three-day event in Bombay was festive, and it mirrored a new Dalit narrative. Certainly, these trade fairs give a chance for Dalits to display their entrepreneurial aptitude, their genius and successes. That this is needed, for a section of us, despite our good intentions, tends to suggest the Dalits are so oppressed that unless they are offered a helping hand they can’t really move, let alone race ahead in this competitive world. Tiny, though not representative of larger Dalit realities, these entrepreneurs hold the promise that Dalits too can scale Himalayan heights despite sub-zero level social hostilities. A first-generation Ahmadabad-based Dalit manufactures dry compressors, and competes in global tendering processes; a Dalit vendor to ISRO had a hand in Mangalyaan launch glory. Another first-time entrepreneur with roots in UP now has offices in Moscow, London, Dubai and Bombay, and has four Mercedes in his garage. A Chandigarh Dalit businessman rides a Bentley. A Haryana-based one manufactures hoist cranes, each 125 metric tonnes. A Bombay Dalit employs 4,000 workers, including 152 engineers; a Kerala Dalit manufactures accessories for drones. An Ahmedabad-based one paid Rs 32 crore in taxes lastyear—the list keeps expanding. Devesh Kapur of the University of Pennsylvania is studying a thousand DICCI members, almost all post-1990 products, and suggests their combined turnover crosses Rs 150 billon in 2015. In my estimate, Dalit entrepreneurs may be paying more in taxes to the state than total state spending on Dalit welfare. And I can tell you that for half their lives, most Dalit entrepreneurs have had their stomachs only half-filled.