The term ‘welfare’ can be understood as a state or condition of well being, good fortune, happiness or prosperity of an individual in a community. Welfare in the life of the state indicates a guarantee of collective social care of its citizens. In the modern neo-liberal environment of recent years, the concept of welfare state is losing ground where the idea of state withdrawing from the service sector becomes more and more favourable. However, a rethinking of the trend is necessary so far as developing countries with scarce resources are concerned.

Against this backdrop the focus of this paper is on the concept of welfare state in India in the ancient period. I have specifically taken Kautilya’s ‘Arthasastra’ to bring forth the concept of welfare state as it was prevalent in those days. In the process, I intend to highlight how such a state would be quite suitable in a country like India where the resources are scarce.

Keywords: Welfare, State, Kautilya, India, Arthasastra