Chettiar Capital and Southeast Asian Credit Networks in the Interwar Period

Abstract

This essay discusses the growth of the Chettiar moneylending caste of South India as regional suppliers of credit in Southeast Asia in the interwar period, and its changing relationships with local, Western and Chinese entrepreneurs. The contribution of the Chettiars to the expansion of export production in Southeast Asia from the middle of the nineteenth century has been well recognised. For example, Michael Adas and Lim Teck Ghee demonstrate the importance of Chettiar credit in the movement of the indigenous population into export production.