Industrial development of Bombay and Calcutta

There were distinct differences between the nature of growth of Bombay and
Calcutta as centers of major modern industrial cities in India during
nineteenth century.

Timing of arrival of British: British first came to Calcutta so the effect of

Imperialism was seen very early there as compared to Bombay and other
places in the country. Calcutta was the city from which the British extended
its influence throughout India. The British reached in Bombay about 60 years
later. By then the monopoly of EIC was withdrawn and mercantile attitude
was replaced by Utilitarian capitalistic attitude. There was an attitude
difference in British Bombay and British Calcutta.

Existing local business community & attitude of British: Marwaris were

the major business community in Calcutta. EIC established its monopoly by
force so Marwaris were forced to abandon their business or just become EIC
agents. The Marwaris provided the British with raw jute, short-term credit,
and long-term loans. The British did need mediators in trade and finance, but
did not welcome the Marwaris. They first increased their importance in the
trade of raw material, the go on to become members of trade organisations
and finally in 1920 they started/acquired the jute mills. The shortage of
British capital was one of the main reasons in explaining the emergence of
Marwaris in Calcutta. The British needed their support but did not welcome
them and had a hostile attitude towards these people. The explicit racial
superiority of the British, was very obvious in the large offices, restaurants
and clubs of Calcutta. They saw them as necessary evils.
On the other hand, the Bombay Presidency being a chronically revenue-
deficit area, Even by the late eighteenth century, it was primarily a marine
supply point, which, unlike Calcutta and Madras, had few links to the
hinterland. The British needed the Indian bankers money lenders and artisans
to survive in the region. English invited the Parsis to settle in Bombay and
made it profitable for them to do so.

Industrial Products: Demand for hemp, traditionally used for rope and
sacking increased greatly due to the Industrial Revolution as Jute was
increasingly used as a packaging material. From then till 1870, Dundee, in
Scotland had an almost complete monopoly over Jute cloth trade, based on
cheap Indian raw material. Due to cheap labour and high shipping volume of
jute raw material the British setup jute mills in Calcutta.At this time, Calcutta
became the center of tea & jute-production whereas Bombay became center
of cotton-production. Bengal was the only jute-producing area and Cotton was
found in the Bombay region Maharashtra, Nagpur, etc.

Ownership: In Calcutta, British-owned industries came up. Bombay most of

the industries were started and owned by Indians themselves. So due to
imperial domination the traders in Calcutta did not flourish whereas the
traders in Bombay flourished since they had their own industries. Bombay
benefitted from the large class of merchants from Gujarat, with a larger
ethnic and communal diversityHindus, Parsis, Muslims, Jains etc.in
Bombay business circle. In the East, business was entirely dominated by
Europeans, until challenged by the Marwaris in a bitter business fight colored
by racism. Bombay benefited from a more dynamic atmosphere of
emulation and competition and less racial and communal strife.

Labour demography: In Calcutta region, all bonded-labour was brought

from MP, Bihar and Orissa. In Bombay the labor was from the region itself.
They worked during he day and went back to their homes in the evening. The
people in Calcutta saw jute mills as a symbol of foreign oppression. Whereas
the people of Bombay saw cotton mills as symbol of national pride, owned
and worked by Indians. Due to linguistic differences in Calcutta, this labor
could not mix and contribute to society. Effect of this was that the
responsibility of labor in Calcutta was that of the owners. This also proved to
an extra expenditure in Cal, crucial to the industrys survival later. It was not
so in Bombay.

Exim structure: The Bombay industries also showed greater flexibility to

adopt innovations and tackle changing market conditions, including orienting
themselves towards the domestic market. On the other hand, the industry in
Calcutta was predominantly meant for export purposes.