Bombay as a Business Centre in the Colonial Period

Abstract

Comparisons between bombay and calcutta as cities are a fairly hackneyed topic. However, a systematic comparison between those two metropolises, focusing on their role as command centres, has, to my knowledge, never been done. This chapter is a very preliminary attempt at such an exercise. It draws attention, firstly, to the existence of a pattern of dual dominance in the Indian colonial economy, which is generally taken for granted but actually calls for some explaining. Possible counterfactuals existed. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the emerging colonial economy of India had three major foci, Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, and a tripolar structure was a distinctly possible outcome. Why Madras, which was the oldest British colonial foundation in India, could not maintain its rank, in spite of the consolidation of its hinterland brought about by the annexation of the Carnatic in 1801, need not detain us here. But we should keep in mind the fate of Madras, for, had not certain chance factors intervened, it could very well have been Bombay’s: to become a backwater of Empire. Leaving aside the question of possible counterfactuals, the chapter will focus on an analysis of the dominant couple formed by Bombay and Calcutta and of the changes it underwent over time.

M. Kosambi, Bombay in Transition: The Growth and Social Ecology of a Colonial City, 1880–1980 (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1986), p. 36.