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By Steve, Andria, Taniya and Nirmal THE PECULIARITIES OF INDUSTRIAL GROWTH (i) European Managing Agencies, which dominated industrial production in India, were interested in certain kinds of products. They established tea and coffee plantations, acquiring land at cheap rates from the colonial government; and they invested in mining, indigo and jute. (ii) When Indian businessmen began setting up industries in the late nineteenth century, they avoided competing with Manchester goods in the Indian market. (iii) By the first decade of the twentieth century a series of changes affected the pattern of industrialization. Industrial groups organized themselves to protect their collective interests, pressurizing the government to increase tariff factories were set up and old ones ran multiple shifts. Many new workers were employed and everyone was made to work longer hours. Over the war years protection and grant other concessions. industrial production boomed. Industrial Growth Nonetheless, industrial growth was slow prior to WW1. The war drastically altered the situation. Manchester imports to India fell as British mills were occupied with war production to meet the needs of the army. Indian mills suddenly found themselves with a sizable domestic market to supply. As the war dragged on, Indian factories were called upon to supply war necessities such as jute bags, army uniform fabrics, tents and leather boots, horses and mule saddles, and a variety of other items. Small scale industries predominate While factory industries grew steadily after the war,large industries formed only a small segment of the economy. Most of them — about 67% in 1911 — were located in Bengal and Bombay. Over the rest of the country, small-scale production continued to predominate. Only a small proportion of the total industrial labour force worked in registered factories:5% in 1911 and 10% in 1931. The rest worked in small workshops and household units,often located alleys and bylanes,invisible to the passer-by. In fact,in some instances, handicrafts production actually expanded in the 20th century. This is true even in the case of the handloom sector that we have discussed. While cheap machine- made thread wiped out the spinning industry in the 19th century,weavers survived, despite problems. In the 20th century, handloom cloth production expanded steadily: almost trebling between 1900 and 1940. How did this happen? - 1.This was partly because of techno changes. Handicrafts people adopted new technology as that helped them improving production without excessively pushing up costs. By the second decade of the twentieth century weavers were using looms with fly shuttle, which increased productivity per worker, speeded up production and reduced labour demand. 2. Certain groups of weavers were in better position than others to survive the competition with mill industries. The coarser cloth was bought by the poor and its demand fluctuated violently. The demand for the finer varieties bought by the well-to-do was more stable. Famines did not affect the sale of Banarasi or Baluchari saris. Moreover, mills could not imitate specialised weaves. Saris with woven borders, or the famous lungis and handkerchiefs of Madras, could not be easily displaced by mill production. 3.Weavers and other craftspeople who continued to expand production through the twentieth century, did not necessarily prosper. They lived hard lives and worked long hours. But they were not simply remnants of past times in the age of factories. Their life and labour was integral to the process of industrialisation.