INDIAN OCEAN EMPIRE
I N T H E
AGE OF
DANISH KHAN (University of Oxford)
Trade to Manufacture: Gujarati Muslim Merchants in Colonial Bombay
Colonial Bombay emerged as the major centre for cotton mills established and managed by the city's vernacular capitalists. Informed by the lack of trade-to-manufacturing transition, this talk seeks to highlight two lines of trade which had the potential to turn merchant firms into industrial houses. Gujarati Muslim merchants dominated the trade in (Mauritius) sugar and (Japanese) matchboxes and had long standing presence in both the countries. Arguments and counter-arguments about lack of industrialisation in British India have looked at rate of returns and discrimination as two possible factors. Using family history, colonial archives, and newspaper reports this talk recreates crucial aspects of the social, economic, and political climate in which Khoja, Bohra, and Memon merchants operated to understand the decisions they made.
Danish Khan read for a DPhil at University of Oxford where he was the Martin Senior and Amersi Foundation scholar, and a member of the Global History of Capitalism project. His thesis sits at the intersection of legal, economic, and political history and examines the Khoja, Bohra, and Memon merchants in colonial Bombay. His interest lies in examining the role of Muslims as economic actors in the Global South. Danish has written widely for the media in India as a foreign correspondent and is author of Escaped: True Stories of Indian Fugitives in London. Some of his writings can be found at www.danish-khan.com.