Business Conduct in Late Colonial India: European Business in Kanpur 1900-1939

Economic historians have tended to recognise an almost unfractured racial solidarity that prevailed among the European business class in colonial India, not only locally within the country but also with the "white" colonial government and the manufacturers in Britain. This almost unexcepti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economic and political weekly 2006-03, Vol.41 (10), p.904-911
Main Authors: Manali Chakrabarti, Biswajit Chatterjee
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business
Business communities
Cotton textiles
Free trade
Industrial market
Industrial policy
Manufacturing industries
Special Articles
Sugar industry
Textile industry
World wars
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Summary:Economic historians have tended to recognise an almost unfractured racial solidarity that prevailed among the European business class in colonial India, not only locally within the country but also with the "white" colonial government and the manufacturers in Britain. This almost unexceptional race-based harmony was attributed to the complementarity of business interests including an attempt to keep off native competition. It has been generally agreed that the larger interests of race took precedence over economic interests of individual members of the European business community in India. This paper presents data on a section of the European business community, that reveals behaviour contradictory to this general understanding. Based on an analysis of business behaviour of the European business community in Kanpur between 1900 and 1939 it is argued that the business conduct of the European commercial community in colonial India was primarily influenced by economic interests and not by any reasons of racial solidarity.
ISSN:0012-9976
2349-8846