Course abstract

This course will familiarise students with the modern history of the evolution of businesses in the Indian subcontinent during the twentieth century. It will discuss case studies of businesses and industries to highlight the multi-faceted history of entrepreneurship in India at the turn of the twentieth century ranging from post-Independence banking history to liberal reforms of the 1990s. It will examine the history of major Indian industrial houses as well as the use of financial diplomacy as an instrument of India’s foreign policy after 1947. The course will highlight the historical nature of policies that shaped Indian business cultures in the wider socio-political landscape.