Burma while others had links with the Middle East and East Africa. There were yet other Fig. – Dwarkanath Tagore. Dwarkanath Tagore believed that India would develop through westernisation and industrialisation.
He invested in shipping, shipbuilding, mining, banking, plantations and insurance. Fig. – Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. Jeejeebhoy was the son of a Parsi weaver.
Like many others of his time, he was involved in the China trade and shipping. He owned a large fleet of ships, but competition from English and American shippers forced him to sell his ships by the 1850s. commercial groups, but they were not directly involved in external trade. They operated within India, carrying goods from one place to another, banking money, transferring funds between cities, and financing traders.
When opportunities of investment in industries opened up, many of them set up factories. As colonial control over Indian trade tightened, the space within which Indian merchants could function became increasingly limited. They were barred from trading with Europe in manufactured goods, and had to export mostly raw materials and food grains – raw cotton, opium, wheat and indigo – required by the British. They were also gradually edged out of the shipping business.
Till the First World War, European Managing Agencies in fact controlled a large sector of Indian industries. Three of the biggest ones were Bird Heiglers & Co., Andrew Yule, and Jardine Skinner & Co. These Agencies mobilised capital, set up joint-stock companies and managed them. In most instances Indian financiers provided the capital while the European Agencies made all investment and business decisions.
The European merchant-industrialists had their own chambers of commerce which Indian businessmen were not allowed to join. . Where Did the Workers Come From? Factories needed workers.
With the expansion of factories, this demand increased. In , there were , workers in Indian factories. By the number was over , , . Where did the workers come from?
In most industrial regions workers came from the districts around. Peasants and artisans who found no work in the village went to the industrial centres in search of work. Over