Dwarkanath Tagore
Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 4 "The Age of Industrialisation"
Meaning
Dwarkanath Tagore (1794–1846) was one of the earliest Indian industrial entrepreneurs, from Bengal. Like many Indian businessmen of his time, he made his money in the China trade, which was linked to British opium exports to China. He then put that money into industry. His story shows that Indians tried to build modern businesses early on, and that colonial conditions made it hard to survive.
Example
In the 1830s and 1840s, Dwarkanath Tagore set up six joint-stock companies in Bengal. These were companies owned by many shareholders, and they worked in fields such as shipping, mining, banking and insurance. All of them sank in the business crises of the 1840s. He was the grandfather of Rabindranath Tagore.
Don't confuse with
- Jamsetji Tata: Tata was a Parsi businessman from Bombay, active later in the 19th century. His family's businesses, including the Jamshedpur steel works, lasted, while Tagore's companies collapsed in the 1840s.
Related concepts
- Bombay cotton mills
- Opium trade with China
- Jamsetji Tata
- Tata Iron and Steel Company
- Managing agency
- Jobber
- Cotton excise duty 1896
- Discriminating protection