Every pandemic that tore through the Indian subcontinent like in 2020, brought businesses to a standstill. In 1907, India's GDP contracted by 5 percent, and in 1918 India's GDP fell 10 percent while inflation was high, creating a supply-side shock as 20 million Indians died. The Age of Pandemics by Chinmay Tumbe argues the close connection between pandemics, economics, and politics that have shaped Indian history and why we need to give a central role to pandemics