Nattukottai Chettiars
Also called: Chettiars · Topic: The Making of a Global World · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 3 "The Making of a Global World"
Meaning
The Nattukottai Chettiars were a Tamil community of bankers and traders. In the 19th and early 20th centuries they lent money to farmers growing crops for export in Southeast Asia. They used their own funds or loans taken from European banks. They had advanced systems for sending money over long distances and their own Indian forms of business organisation. They show that Indians were not only labourers in the colonial economy but also financiers.
Example
Chettiar moneylenders financed rice farming in Burma, and also lent money in Malaya and Ceylon. This helped these places produce crops for the world market.
Don't confuse with
- Shikaripuri shrofs: these were another group of Indian bankers who financed export farming, but they came from a different region and community. Chettiars were Tamil.