What can Kautilya teach today’s HR leaders? Revisiting the Arthashastra for 21st-century HRM

The principles articulated in Arthashastra – and ancient Indian text by Kautilya – remain strikingly relevant even in the current era of evolving workforce dynamics and organisational challenges. In this paper, we develop a framework based on Kautilya’s paradigm that applies to critical human resource practices at the micro level (addressing employees), the meso level (managing groups), and the macro level (guiding organisational and HR strategy). Existing discourses on the Arthashastra concentrate on aspects such as ethics, law, economics, and governance, and not on the people and organisational relevance of the text. Addressing these gaps, we argue that Kautilya’s prescriptions remain timeless.