Question

what was the infrastructure of factories at british tme

Answer 1

Finance is the prime maker of growth. Anyway, capital for industry and entrepreneurial zeal were severely and conspicuously scarce in India when the East India Company (1600-1874) stepped into this country.

It was very difficult to raise capital on private initiative in the days of the Company rule and, thereafter, because of damped forces of demand and supply capital remained shy.

Naturally, under the circumstance, the state is supposed to act as a godfather for promoting and financing industries. Since India was under the British rule for almost 200 years (1757-1947), the British Government, found it unprofitable and unnecessary to go for industrialization in India. However, imperialist capital came in this country as a matter of colonial policy—the policy of subordination of Indian to British capital. It was only after the First World War (1914-1918), that state patronage for industrial development was visible as Britain’s supremacy all over the globe came under serious threat.

Against this backdrop, a “new” pattern was evolved to overcome the obstacles of (i) shortage of entrepreneurship; (ii) non-availability of, mainly, venture capital; and (iii) dearth of managerial skill and knowhow.

This new pattern of industrial organisation that evolved came to be known as the Managing Agency System (MAS)—a peculiar business entity in the early years of the nineteenth century. Before we embark upon this form of industrial organisation, we will make a brief review of the industrial development during the British rule.

Early Efforts of Industrialisation:

Modern industry or the large-scale industry is a mid-19th century pheno­menon. Before the British conquest, India’s supremacy in the industrial field reached its high watermark—India was called ‘the industrial workshop of the world’ during the 17th and 18th centuries. Demand for Indian cotton goods in England during this time was unprecedented. Indian cotton cloth was considered by Englishmen as the badge of ‘style and fashion’ of the time.

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Woollen and silk items were also in huge demand. All this development brought untold miseries in England and other parts of Europe. Firstly, import of Indian goods destroyed the prospect of woollen and silk industries. Secondly, unemployment and suffering among the weavers mounted up. Thirdly, change in the composition of India’s trade led to the export of treasure from England to India.

To counteract these unhappy developments, some measures were taken to pacify the British nationals, but with little relief. Ultimately, the way out was found through legislations. Acts were passed, first in 1700, then again in 1720, to prohibit or restrict import trade of Indian cotton good, silks, calicos, etc., by total prohibition or by imposing heavy duties. As these measures did not yield desired result, one British author commented in 1728: “two things amongst us are ungovernable: our passions and our fashions”.

What was the net effect of this state of industrial development? What was ‘industrialisation’ to India by the standards of time was ‘de-industrialisation’ to Britain. India, however, had not been fortunate enough as soon as the ‘ugliest’ thing came on us in 1757—the loss of freedom through British conquest of India.