This article asks how the global financial crisis (GFC) affected rural communities in western India that have always lived with crises. A visit to Kutch, a border district in Gujarat, revisited after seven years, revealed that the GFC was not very present in the lives of the general population and there was very little radical reimagining of development. Despite impressive post‐earthquake reconstruction, massive improvements in infrastructure and a rapid growth rate, there appeared to be very few changes to age‐old, feudal, caste and gender inequalities. Economic development had not translated to human development and there remain several ecological unknowns and potential negative impacts in terms of long‐term environmental sustainability.