Trace the Profit Motif

It takes a reliable and rigorous academic exercise to expose the myths that have been perpetuated over decades. Dwijendra Tripathi8217;s Hi...

It takes a reliable and rigorous academic exercise to expose the myths that have been perpetuated over decades. Dwijendra Tripathi8217;s History of Indian Business does all that and more. It does so while tracking the evolution of Indian business from 1700 to modern times. The book should be seen as the beginning of business research without the blinkers of the past. An approach that is not mired in colonialism, post-colonialism or Marxism but is an objective inquiry into the past. One that points to the road ahead.

The myths exposed by Tripathi include that of India being a nation of peddlers when Europe began its business foray into the country. He cites the existence of associations of merchants from different trades in different cities as examples of the nature of business in India. 8216;8216;Ahmedabad alone had at least fifty-two associations of this kind in 1725,8217;8217; he writes.

Another myth ties the lack of development of an efficient industrial class in India to the caste system that prevented cross-migration of talent. Tripathi finds that half of the 18 predominant business houses at the end of colonial rule were run by people who were not part of the traditional Indian business class. He shows how the failure to transform merchant capitalism to industrial enterprise had less do with the Indian caste system or religion, than the lack of accompanying political, educational and technological structures.

A good book does not stop at looking back, it uses the historical raw material to crystal gaze. The book does not fail on this account. The authors8217; predictions for the future include: One, India will remain a mixed economy, but its commanding heights are likely to revert to the private sector. Two, the Indian business groups may move towards concentrating on areas of their core competencies and this may result in mergers and acquisitions. For the efficient risk taker in Indian business, 8220;there will be a whole new world to conquer8221;. And three, large scale closely held companies may re-orient their management styles to a more professional approach, but family-managed firms are not about to die out. 8220;Family tradition is too deep-rooted in India to be easily disrupted,8221; and small businesses will continue to be closely held.

Government today can take note of a small kernel of history unearthed by the author. One of the factors that retarded the growth of commerce in India was the plethora of custom duties or chowkies that had to be paid when moving goods from one place to another. It seems that the cost of goods doubled between the origin of the good and its destination due to these custom duties, that were often arbitrary and the collection was rife with corruption. Sounds like today? This was India in 1700!