View source for Bengal: Commerce and trade, c. A.D. 1900

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This article has been extracted from <br/>

THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/>

OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
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[[Category:India|B]]
[[Category: Economy-Industry-Resources |B]]
''' Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value. '''

=Commerce and trade=
British trade with Bengal commenced about 1633; but prior to the 
acquisition of the Province it was on a very small scale, and in 1759 
only thirty vessels with an aggregate burden of less 
than 4,000 tons sailed from Calcutta. The chief , trade 
exports were opium from Bihar and Rangpur*, silk 
manufactured goods and raw silk from Murshidabad and Rajshahi*, 
muslins from Dacca*, indigo and saltpetre from Bihar, and cotton 
cloths from Patna. Little except bullion was imported. The 150 
years of British rule have witnessed a commercial revolution. Hand- 
woven silks and cottons are no longer exported, and machine-made 
European piece-goods have taken the first place among the imports. 
On the other hand, owing to the increased facilities for the transport 
of goods, the food-crops have been largely displaced by fibres and 
oilseeds, which now figure largely among the exports. The principal 
imports are yarns and textile fabrics, metals and machinery, oil, and 
sugar ; and the principal exports are raw and manufactured jute, coal, 
tea, opium, hides, rice, linseed, indigo, and lac. Bengal enjoys a 
practical monopoly of the export of coal, raw and manufactured 
jute, lac, saltpetre, and raw silk, and has a large or preponderating 
share in that of opium, indigo, rice, hides, and tea. 

The maritime trade of the Province is concentrated in Calcutta. 
Chittagong*, the terminus of the Assam-Bengal Raihvay, exports 
jute, rice, and tea, and imports salt and oil ; but its total trade is still 
comparatively small. The Orissa ports do an insignificant rice trade. 
The head-quarters of the jute trade are Narayanganj*, Sirajganj*, 
Chandpur*, and Madaripur* in East Bengal, and JalpaigurI* 
in North Bengal ; the jute-mills line both banks of the Hooghly river 
from lo miles below to 30 miles above Calcutta. Patna is still a market 
for grain, but the East Indian Railway has robbed it of much of its 
importance. Raniganj, Asansol, GTrTdTh, Jherria, and Barakar are 
the centres of the coal trade. Calcutta, with its suburbs of Howrah, 
Garden Reach, and Chitpur, is the centre of the commercial and 
industrial activities of the Province. 

The Bengal Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1834, and 
represents all the large commercial interests of Calcutta. The Bengal 
National Chamber of Commerce and the Calcutta Trades Association 
have been formed to protect the interests of native merchants and 
of the retail trading community. The affairs of the Calcutta and 
Chittagong ports are administered by Port Trusts. 

Broadly stated, the imports into Calcutta represent the convergence 
of the products of the country to the chief seaport for shipment 
overseas, and the exports from Calcutta the distribution inland of 
foreign imports ; the principal articles of export and import are thus 
the same as have already been enumerated for the Province as a whole. 

The registration of internal trade is defective, except for Calcutta, 
and complete returns exist only for rail-borne traffic. The Province is 
divided for registration purposes into eight blocks. The articles most 
largely exported from the Eastern block are jute, grain and pulses, 
timber, kerosene oil, and fodder; from the Northern block jute, grain 
and pulses, tobacco, and tea ; from the Dacca* block jute ; and from 
Bihar grain, pulses, oilseeds, stone, and lime. All the blocks obtain 
their piece-goods from Calcutta. Calcutta receives rice from East and 
West Bengal ; coal from West Bengal and Chota Nagpur ; jute from 
Dacca* and East and North Bengal; timber from East Bengal ; grain and 
pulses from West, East, and North Bengal, Dacca*, and Bihar ; and oil- 
seeds, opium, and indigo from Bihar. West Bengal imports salt, oilcake, 
wrought iron and steel, and sugar from Calcutta ; coal and timber from 
Chota Nagpur ; and grain, stone, lime, and oilseeds from Bihar. East 
Bengal draws its supplies of salt and railway material from Calcutta ; 
coal from West Bengal and from Chota Nagpur ; and jute and rice from 
North Bengal. Bihar imports coal and timber from Chota Nagpur. 

The railways, rivers, canals, and roads carry country produce to the 
ports for export, and distribute the imports : the main routes of traffic 
will be described under the head of Communications. Calcutta, 
the chief receiving and distributing centre, is connected with all parts 
of the Province by the railways, which carry the bulk of the internal 
trade. Next in importance as a channel of communication are the 
Calcutta and Eastern Canals, which carry enormous quantities 
of rice and jute from the eastern Districts into Calcutta. 

Jute is either exported from Calcutta or manufactured in the mills on 
the Hooghly. In the former case it is pressed into bales to reduce the 
freight. One-third of the jute pressed at Narayanganj* finds its way 
to Chittagong* by the Assam-Bengal Railway, and is thence shipped 
direct. The presses and the mills obtain their jute from the cultivator 
through native brokers, and the trade in Calcutta is largely in the hands 
of European brokers. Tea grown in North Bengal is taken to Calcutta 
by rail, but most of that produced in Assam is carried thither by 
steamer, and shipped thence to London either by the producers, or 
by brokers who purchase it at auction. Considerable and increasing 
quantities of Assam tea are, however, now sent by the Assam-Bengal 
Railway to Chittagong*, and are shipped thence direct to England. 
Coal is carried by rail from the mines to Calcutta, whence it is shipped 
to Bombay and other coast ports. Opium intended for export is also 
brought to Calcutta, where it is sold at auction by the Board of 
Revenue. Imported foreign goods are bought by native merchants, 
through European brokers, from the consignees, and distributed up- 
country. 

Only 8 per 1,000 of the population are engaged in commerce. 
A great part of the trade is in the hands of enterprising merchants from 
Marwar, chiefly Agarwals and Oswals ; the indigenous dealers belong in 
Bengal to the Sunri, Kayasth, Teli, Subarnabanik, and Brahman castes, 
and in Bihar to the Rauniar and Kalwar castes. The Marwaris are 
bankers and money-lenders, and dealers in piece-goods and country 
produce ; of the other castes mentioned, the Brahmans and Kayasths 
are engaged as brokers, money-lenders, and bankers, while the others 
are for the most part petty shopkeepers. 

Statistics of the value (i) of the trade with other Provinces and States 
in India, (ii) of the foreign maritime trade, and (iii) of the foreign 
land trade are given in Tables V-VII on pp. 348-50. Of the trade by 
sea with other Provinces the largest share, both in imports and exports, 
is with Burma, which sends rice, timber, and kerosene oil to Bengal, 
and receives from it coal, tobacco, gunny-bags, and betel-nuts. Next 
comes the Bombay Presidency, which supplies Bengal with cotton 
goods and salt, in exchange for coal, rice, gunny-bags and cloth, and tea. 
The trade by land with Provinces other than those named is carried 
by rail and river, and much of it is due to the position of Calcutta as 
a seaport and medium of trade with other countries. The largest share 
of this trade is with the United Provinces, whence are received opium, 

VOL. VH. T 

oilseeds, grain and pulses, hides and skins, and wool manufactures, and 
to which are sent cotton piece-goods, gunny-bags and cloth, metals, and 
sugar. From Assam, Calcutta receives tea, oilseeds, grain and pulses, 
and stone and lime, and sends in return cotton piece-goods, metals and 
manufactures of metals, oils (mostly rape and mustard), and salt. 
Excluding the trade with Calcutta, the imports of Bengal consist 
mainly of the staple products of the United Provinces, Assam, and the 
Central Provinces, and the exports consist mainly of grain and pulses, 
coal, jute, gunny-bags and cloth, spices, and sugar. 

Of the foreign trade by far the largest part is with countries in 
Europe ; and of this the greatest share is with the United Kingdom, 
from which two-thirds of the imports come. Kerosene oil is imported 
from Russia, sugar and piece-goods from Germany, wrought iron and 
steel from Belgium, and sugar from Austria-Hungary and from the 
Straits. The United Kingdom takes one-third of the total exports, and 
Germany as much as all the other countries combined. 

The foreign land trade is insignificant except with Nepal, which 
absorbs about 92 per cent, of the total. Tibet still presents a practically 
closed door to the Indian trader, and with Sikkim and Bhutan the trade 
is trifling. About half of the imports consists of grain and pulses 
(largely rice) ; the exports are cotton yarn and piece-goods (European 
and Indian), metals, provisions, and salt.
=See also=
For a large number of articles about Bengal, extracted from the Gazetteer of 1908 (as well as other articles on Bengal) please either click the 'India' link (below, left) and go to Bengal (under B) or enter 'Bengal' in the 'Search' box (top, right).
[[Bengal, 1908]]
[[Bengal: A history, by British Raj writers ]]
[[Bengal: Agriculture in A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Arts and manufactures, 1908 ]]
[[Bengal: Commerce and trade, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Famines, 1769-1899 ]]
[[Bengal: Forests, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Mines and minerals, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Physical aspects, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Population, A.D. 1901]]