A report on history of Indian business

and its interlinking with political

development.

By- NAAZISH AHMED

Executive summary:
This report highlights the political history of INDIA starting with the Indus valley
civilization till British ruled India along with the business history of India.
The business history of India is vast and this report attempts to outline a
concise summary of it. This report also mentions about The
CORPORATION at the end and its relevance today along with its basic
function.
INTRODUCTION:
INDIA!!!
The word says it all.
The country with multiple languages, religions passions and dreams has an
extensive and rich history. This report will outline the history of India in context
with its business and its evolution and its interlinking with the politic
development. It also intends to highlight the major factors which need some
mention and have contributed to make the Indian business history the way it is
right now.

The known history of India begins with the Indus Valley civilization. Next was the
Mughal empire which was considered as the golden period for the Indian land
and economy. The foundation for the empire was established around the early
1500s by the Timurid prince Babur. It ended with the death of Emperor
Aurangzeb in 1707.Another major empire ruling India was the maratha empire.
The Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was a Hindu state located in
present-day India. It existed from 1674 to 1818.

Then there was the Company rule in India which refers to the rule or dominion of
the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. But during this
period improved efficiency was for the internal market (sugar , cement , paper)
and it could be expected that given the overall stagnation in export oriented
sectors like jute or tea they could have played a greater part in industrial
development. the lack of response by British capital to the opportunities which
opened up in the 1930’s is striking. While widely held claims about large scale
withdrawal of British capital from India are not substantiated by the evidence
available, there was very little new investment by British capitalists in India.

History of Indian business:

Indian Business class known as Vaishya was involved in different forms of trade
and had a very prosperous time from Pre-Mauryan period. In Mauryan period,
India experienced its first kingdom . The establishment of the kingdom, help the
trade routes to be more secure. This enabled the business to reach new levels .
It is in this period, that the 'Chanakya' – the master politician and a teacher of
Takashashila University who later become the prime minister of Chandragupta
Maurya wrote “Arthasastra. Arthasastra was a definite treatise of politics ,
economics and state administration . It had clear regulatory framework for a king
, to manage his kingdom . Further, Chanakya himself was also one of the
earliest thinkers, on the subject of political economy. Even at the time of
Chanakya, Indian business people had a psyche of working for an higher ideal.
They pioneered the thought of corporate social responsibility. Indian business
people were famous for there ideal of Niskam Karma. In medieval period,
Mughal India was the second largest economy in the world. The gross domestic
product of India in the 16th century was estimated at about 24.5% of the world
economy, in comparison to Ming China's 25% share. The dissolution of Mughal
empire, itself brought some crises due to the weak administration, which helped
Eastern Indian Company to gain control over India, using the Business route. In
the early 19th Century, there were modern business community which became
very active. Marwaris became very active in Kolkata. The Parsis, become active
in Mumbai. Though Persians could really get through things pretty easy in
Mumbai, it was not so easy for Marwaris in Kolkata. The ethnic group originated
from North western Indian state of Rajasthan belongs to a desert, and are more
exposed to a life style of scarcity. That made there fiscal discipline better than
others. However after freedom of India, the trusteeship model of business which
was so appreciated by Gandhi was given away to an Industrial model. Nehru,
was very fond of the Soviet model of state controlled Industrialization. The
decisions which are taken by Nehru on the context of Indian Business History
were followed by more or less all the Governments, from the period of 1947
to1991.

Obviously this state controlled model has given a lot more security to some of
the failing sectors of India. The period known as ‘Licese Raj’ was a tough period
for entrepreneurs as they has to struggle a lot, to get the regulation in there
favour. Dhirubhai Ambani formed Reliance group at this point, which later
became one of the largest private company in India.

In spite of regulatory difficulties entrepreneurs from Marwari and Parsee

community showed steady growth at this time. At the same time, icons are also
created. At 1976, Hindustan Computer Limited (HCL) came into existence. It
made pioneering efforts which reshaped IT industry in India long back.

In 199, only this state controlled industrial model came into monetary trouble.
This is the time, when India, took loans from IMF and the structural adjustment
model was applied.

The CORPORATION:

The Indian Business Corporation (IBC) was established in 1987 with the goal of
providing financing opportunities for First Nations peoples.

IBC Today

The mandate of IBC is to provide individual First Nations farmers, ranchers and
businesses with access to capital. It is the view of the Board that the need for a
development loan fund that First Nations individuals can access is still very
necessary. The original target, First Nations ranchers and farmers, has been
expanded in order to include businesses as well. Potential for diversification
exists in operations related to cow/calf, such as feed production and cattle
feeding, in agricultural suppliers and processors, the food industry, and other
primary agricultural enterprises such as grains, oilseeds, hogs, poultry etc. Other
sources of new lending activity will include consumer lending and loans for
commercial purposes.
Conclusion
So in order to conclude I would like to state that this report is and attempt at
analyzing the response of Indian capitalists to the rise of political nationalism
and at evaluating the impact which the growing participation of businessmen
made on the course of nationalist politics.
References:
1. Business History of India : Palit, Chittabrata & Bhattacharya, Pranjal
Kumar (Eds.)