Picture Credit: tata
Currently India is a country which has some power in International trade. Industrially, India has done a lot and is still doing more and more.
From textile to automobile to petroleum or mineral, India has various industries working in various fields. But how did this industrialisation start in India? The credit should definitely be given to the Father of Indian Industry- Sir Jamsetji Tata.
Why is Jamsetji Tata Known as Father of Indian Industries?
Jamsetji Tata used to belong neither to a rich family nor a family which was business-oriented, still not just dreamt of being an industrialist but also worked days and nights to finally get this title.
Jamsetji Tata was the person who took the name and respect of the Tata family to the heights. During the times when India was on the verge of the first war of independence, no huge-scale industry was there in India, Jamsetji Tata dared to be an entrepreneur and start a cotton Mill.
Starting from a cotton Mill with just Rs. 21000 in 1869, he worked so hard that in 1903, he inaugurated his hotel in Mumbai called "Taj Mahal Hotel" worth Rs. 11 Million. This hotel was the only hotel in India with electricity at that time.
Picture Credit: tata
How He Started His business?
Jamsetji Tata was born in a Parsi priest family. The family was respected but poor. He got his education from a good school as his parents saw extraordinary excellence in him. At the age of 14,he was sent to Bombay for further studies.
And then he joined his father's small businesses and worked with him until he was 29. During that work, he used to travel to China to learn the aspects of his father's business, and that is when he observed the scope of the cotton Industry. In 1869, he bought an old oil mill and converted it into a cotton mill, which became his first ever business.
After this, he took so many risks, so many turns to achieve what he wanted to. In 1874,when he started a spinning, weaving and manufacturing company in Nagpur instead of Bombay, he was subjected to the questions of people in Bombay for leaving the "cottonopolis of India" And setting up industry in an unconventional location.
But it was actually a smart move by Tata as setting up the company in Nagpur proved profitable for him. The land here was much cheaper than Bombay, resources and farm produce were in abundance and distribution was also inexpensive.
And this not just benefited Tata by proving a successful business venture but also for Nagpur, as it led to the development of the city.
He never stopped working and taking risks. With time, his empire extended and he became the most successful businessman of India.
Picture credit: indiatoday
Until 1905, the Swadeshi movement had not started. The Swadeshi movement was an idea of boycotting the goods from western countries and using the products formed in our country. The movement was to show the British Government that Indians are self-sufficient.
But Jamsetji Tata was a believer of swadeshinism even before it was started as a movement. He always wanted India to be capable enough to produce all the required goods in the country itself. He was a strong supporter of the Swadeshi Movement against the British Government.
The new cotton Mill started in Bombay was named "Swadeshi Mill" by Jamsetji Tata. The motive of this Mill was to produce the extra soft fabric in India comparable to the quality of cloth which was imported from Manchaster, a city in England and was extremely popular for its quality.
Tata had a vision for India that India would become the primary manufacturer of every kind of clothes and ultimately become its major exporter.
He wanted India to be popular for its quality of cloth for which the primitive weavers of India were known. He even tried to experiment different ways to increase the growth of good-quality cotton in India.
The Four Dreams of Jamsetji Tata
The Four Dreams of Jamsetji Tata
Other than making India a global exporter or an industrial centre, Jamsetji had four dreams for India which he wanted to fulfil before his death.
The four dreams were to Establish a hotel, an educational institution, an iron industry and a hydroelectric power plant.
During his life, unfortunately he could fulfil only one of them, that was the establishment of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. He left this world before watching his other three dreams getting fulfilled.
But those dreams were later fulfilled by successors. JRD Tata, the son of Ratan Tata, Jamsetji's cousin, established the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) in a village in Jharkhand. The village grew into a town and was later named as Jamshedpur. TISCO is the first and largest steel company in India.
Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru was established to be a preeminent institution for the research and education in science and engineering.
Tata Hydroelectric Power Supply Company, now named as Tata Power Company Limited is currently India's largest private electricity company.
Jamsetji Tata not only established himself in industrial India but also laid the first stone in the beginning of Industries in India.
Written By: Nidhi Jha
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