Debating the motion "Has Capitalism Lost its Way," the very last session of the five-day literary jamboree concluded - by a show of hands and voice vote among the public like in any democratic parliament - that capitalism had indeed lost its way.
Author Shoma Chaudhury, speaking for the motion, charged that the entire system was being driven by greed. "There has just been advancement of the few by the few," she said.
"The markets are not transparent, the privileged few have cornered the resources and the poor have grown poorer," she said.
Other panelists speaking for the motion author Sudeep Chakravarti argued that capitalism had made itself arrogant. "We have grown to treat our own people badly," he said.
Adding to his contention was author Professor Michael Sandel who pointed out that instead of "being a market economy (which is a valuable tool), the system had morphed into market societies. This is different because in the latter case everything is up for sale," he said to loud applause.
Sandel also called for active regulation of capitalism, which he said had gone to places it did not belong.
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"The areas of civic life, health, education, law do not belong to capitalism. We are not arguing here to get rid of capitalism but to keep it in its place, which is not an easy thing to do."
Against the motion was entrepreneur and author Frank Savage who pointed to the upward social mobility effect of capitalism. "Show me another economic system over the last 200 years that has given mobility to so many people. Show me an economic environment that has not embraced features of capitalism," he argued.
Invoking the example of China, the CEO of Savage Holdings LLC pointed out how even India's eastern neighbor had provided private ownsership. "That is because it realised their system would not meet people's needs," he added.
Admitting that the system was not perfect, Savage drew attention to different forms of capitalism in different countries