Write a brief note about the early entrepreneurs in India.

In India, entrepreneurship flourished with industrialization and the setting up of cities.

• Indians participated in the trade where Britishers imported opium to China and exported tea from China to England.

• Merchants in Madras traded overseas with Burma, the Middle East and East Africa.

• In Bengal, Dwarkanath Tagore rose as a prominent entrepreneur. He made his fortune from trade with China and established six joint-stock companies.

• In Bombay, Dinshaw Pettit, J.N Tata built industries and established their industrial empire. They accumulated their wealth from opium and cotton trade.

• Seth Hukumchand built the first jute-mill in Calcutta.

The early entrepreneurs of India largely profited from the trade of opium and cotton either directly or by financing the trade.