What do you think?
Rate this book
A Business History of India: Enterprise and the Emergence of Capitalism from 1700
In recent decades, private investment has led to an economic resurgence in India. But this is not the first time the region has witnessed impressive business growth. There have been many similar stories over the past 300 years. India's economic history shows that capital was relatively expensive. How, then, did capitalism flourish in the region? How did companies and entrepreneurs deal with the shortage of key resources? Has there been a common pattern in responses to these issues over the centuries? Through detailed case studies of firms, entrepreneurs, and business commodities, Tirthankar Roy answers these questions. Roy bridges the approaches of business and economic history, illustrating the development of a distinctive regional capitalism. On each occasion of growth, connections with the global economy helped firms and entrepreneurs better manage risks. Making these deep connections between India's economic past and present shows why history matters in its remaking of capitalism today.
310 pages, Hardcover
Published April 27, 2018
10 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 25, 2022
The book reads more like a 200-page research paper. Has occasionally good points and anecdotes, but doesn't provide indepth analysis. You would find say Grasim, Lalbhai, Mafatlal, Tata steel in a single paragraph.. might be useful if you are researching about Indian businesses, but if you are looking for entreneurial insights and management details of indian businesses, you would be left wanting. Also, I felt a few companies were missed outright . For example, Cipla that was started by Abdul Hamied in pre independence era didn't at all find mention. So was the case of Dr Reddy's and many other pharma firms. Amul finds just one sentence mention, and so does Air Deccan. ...
December 31, 2020
Excellent description of events of industry ,trade of Indian business.
December 1, 2024
The Himalayas gaze down on the Indo-Gangetic plain, the Deccan plateau, the Arabian Sea coastline, the Bay of Bengal, the Thar Desert and islands — like the Andaman and Nicobar — straight out of Arabian Nights. That is India, the land of gurus, the Kama Sutra and those who call Brits Britishers.
Four distinct political regimes governed India in the preceding three centuries. Their effects on business history during that time are the concern of A Business History of India: Enterprise and the Emergence of Capitalism by Thirthanka Roy.
The author’s concerns are with India as a place for commerce and the entrepreneurs who managed commercial ventures within India. Too many people are inclined to think of countries as organic, sentient beings rather than delineated geographical areas where human activities occur. It's heartening to see the opposite approach.
From that perspective, the history of Indian business in the modern age begins with integrating landward and seaward commercial ventures that distance and insecurity had previously kept tenuous.
Under the British Raj, those businesses developed global connections that compounded their knowledge imports and capital surpluses.
Nehruvian India was suspicious of business methods pioneered during the Raj and sought to foster industrialisation along Fordist-Stalinist lines. Industries sprang up at the expense of efficiency and quality. The growth doldrums derisively dubbed the Hindu Rate of Growth followed.
The Indian Tiger has roared back in recent years, powered by a mix of remittances and globalisation. The author prefers cosmopolitanism to describe the latter phenomenon. Yet, India labours beneath the burden of the inheritances from ages past as she navigates the present in hopes of rowing past the storms into a promised land that would make even Dr Pangloss blush.
I liked this book. It's useful to everyone from countries whose national destinies are defined by the rise of the Industrial Powers. It’s a necessary antidote to other popular narratives short on facts but long on outrage. My sole complaint is its prosaic text. The barbarians are at the gate! Who would you prefer to lead the charge — Caesar or Fabian (the Delayer)? A fine general was old Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus. But — you know — the Romans preferred death to victory with his methods.
Thankfully, the direct stakes are much lower with understanding Economic History. However, Professor Roy’s otherwise fine book isn’t likely to set minds afire with zeal in defence of cosmopolitanism — the free market in labour and capital.
Four distinct political regimes governed India in the preceding three centuries. Their effects on business history during that time are the concern of A Business History of India: Enterprise and the Emergence of Capitalism by Thirthanka Roy.
The author’s concerns are with India as a place for commerce and the entrepreneurs who managed commercial ventures within India. Too many people are inclined to think of countries as organic, sentient beings rather than delineated geographical areas where human activities occur. It's heartening to see the opposite approach.
From that perspective, the history of Indian business in the modern age begins with integrating landward and seaward commercial ventures that distance and insecurity had previously kept tenuous.
Under the British Raj, those businesses developed global connections that compounded their knowledge imports and capital surpluses.
Nehruvian India was suspicious of business methods pioneered during the Raj and sought to foster industrialisation along Fordist-Stalinist lines. Industries sprang up at the expense of efficiency and quality. The growth doldrums derisively dubbed the Hindu Rate of Growth followed.
The Indian Tiger has roared back in recent years, powered by a mix of remittances and globalisation. The author prefers cosmopolitanism to describe the latter phenomenon. Yet, India labours beneath the burden of the inheritances from ages past as she navigates the present in hopes of rowing past the storms into a promised land that would make even Dr Pangloss blush.
I liked this book. It's useful to everyone from countries whose national destinies are defined by the rise of the Industrial Powers. It’s a necessary antidote to other popular narratives short on facts but long on outrage. My sole complaint is its prosaic text. The barbarians are at the gate! Who would you prefer to lead the charge — Caesar or Fabian (the Delayer)? A fine general was old Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus. But — you know — the Romans preferred death to victory with his methods.
Thankfully, the direct stakes are much lower with understanding Economic History. However, Professor Roy’s otherwise fine book isn’t likely to set minds afire with zeal in defence of cosmopolitanism — the free market in labour and capital.
July 31, 2024
do you want to approach to capitalism in India.
He offers a nice balance to suggest colonialism was not the only detriment holding the back. Political institutions, the cast system, comparative and advantage and technology were multiple contributors.
He offers a nice balance to suggest colonialism was not the only detriment holding the back. Political institutions, the cast system, comparative and advantage and technology were multiple contributors.
January 7, 2022
Read for class; very pro-capitalism
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews