The caste system sorts people into permanent poverty and lack of basic rights or high social standing based only on the position of the family they were born into. There is no “moving up” in society. Hopefully, this will end it, but it will take time. The best thing to happen to India was foreign firms building factories there, and promoting employees into management irrespective of caste. It’s helping to break the system.
Le's not forget that Marx happily identified capitalism as the greatest wrecker of traditional cultures in history, fundamentally altering all aspects of society, customs, local tradition, ideas of right livelihood, religious faith, and even the family, destroying stable ways of life and smaller-scale (e.g. village) cultures and creating enormous cities ripe for socialism.
The Government of India has for the past 60 odd years broken down caste shackles by affirmative action in favour of the “lower castes”. So much so that it is from these castes that a low of politicians now rise up. A case in point - India’s new Prime Minister, a man for whom most “upper castes” voted for. Foreign companies have very little to do with this.
A caste system backed by religion justifies feudal hierarchy.
“I’m in charge because I’m descended from the conquerors and my bloodline is better than yours, you are inferior because of your bloodline and can’t rise up”. And merit doesn’t matter.
There was a genetic study that showed more mobility of mitochondrial DNA than the Y-chromosome showing that women could marry up for a time, before the caste system locked in place. And that completely fits with a conquering male army intermarrying with local girls until there are enough upper class daughters for their sons or grandsons to marry.