Born entrepreneurs: Author Coomi Kapoor gives an insight into the Intimate History of Parsis

Long before the arrival of the Tatas and even before the Parsis’ pioneering role in the development of the city of Bombay, the Parsis of Gujarat had made a name for themselves as entrepreneurs. As early as the fifteenth century, Parsis were trading from Gujarat with merchants in Persia, Arabia and South East Asia. They would handle supplies to ships for trade in salt, corn, wheat and cotton in exchange for spices from the southeast which were then shipped onwards to West Asia and Europe.

But it was with the arrival of Europeans in India that the Parsis really came into their own. Parsis, perhaps because they eschewed caste and appeared to have few religious and social taboos, were uninhibited about mixing with foreigners. Added to this relative openness was the adventurous spirit of a migrant community that knew they had to seize every opportunity to establish themselves in their new homeland. They learnt the languages of the Europeans and developed a reputation with their colonial masters for hard work, honesty and integrity. By 1580, Portugese, Dutch, French and English companies all had Parsis as agents. As their wealth grew, these merchants became brokers and moneylenders.

Rustom Manock, a prominent Parsi of Surat, for instance, made a name for himself by liaising between European companies, the nawab of Surat and the Mughal emperor. Manock was a very wealthy trader who owned several ships and traded with West Asia and South East Asia. He did much to foster and promote the welfare of his community. In 1720, the Rustom family moved to Bombay and their descendants were referred to respectfully as the ‘Seth khandan’, the leading family of the community. He was the first of the Parsi merchant princes who became known as ‘Sethias’ for their wealth and influence. His son, Naoroji Rustom Manock, was the first Parsi to visit London, arriving in the city in 1723 to negotiate with East India Company directors for the release of his brothers whom the company had imprisoned because of a dispute over a large sum of money owed to the family. The company eventually repaid its debts to the Manocks in several instalments and also released Naoroji’s brothers.

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The pioneering role of Lovji Wadia, the master shipbuilder who came to Bombay in 1736 with ten carpenters in tow, has already been mentioned. The dockyards of Bombay became so active under the Wadias that Bombay became the foremost shipyard of the British empire. Trade between India and China had already been in place for centuries, but in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there was a boom, thanks to the ship trade. The Parsis, who were entrenched in the shipping industry and owned many vessels, had a head start over other communities. In western India, the majority of private shipowners were Parsis and, by the eighteenth century, the Parsis had become the foremost maritime traders in the country. The bulk of the exports were raw cotton, textiles and opium from India and the ships returned laden with Chinese silk, porcelain and tea. The exchange of opium for tea dominated trade relations.

Unlike in Calcutta, the East India Company was not able to monopolise the opium trade in Bombay. Local merchants controlled a sizeable share of the market and the profits. The Parsis, in contrast to other Indian trading communities, did not simply dispatch their goods to the ports, they transported their cargo to Canton themselves and sold it, competing with European and American owners and traders. The Readymoneys, the Banajis, the Camas, the Tatas and the Dadyseths were among the leading Parsi families involved in the China trade. They made fortunes which subsequently funded the creation of other enterprises.

In the nineteenth century, the richest Parsi by far was Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, whose wealth was as legendary as his generosity. Rising from humble roots in Navsari, he became the most successful of all the Parsi merchant princes in the China trade. He got his start as an apprentice for a maternal uncle, Framji Battliwala, a junk dealer selling old bottles and cans. Despite some early setbacks, Jamsetjee eventually established a shipping and commercial business empire at the start of the nineteenth century and formed a partnership with William Jardine—a friendship which came about quite by accident. Jardine was the ship’s doctor on the passenger liner Brunswick bound for China, on which Jamsetjee was travelling as a trader. The ship was taken hostage by the French and both men were temporarily stuck in South Africa, where they struck up an acquaintance. Historian Jesse Palsetia describes this chance encounter as ‘changing both men’s lives and influencing the course of history’.

Jardine gave up his medical practice and started what would be the largest trading house in Canton, and managed to corner a major share of the opium trade. The British found it hugely profitable to trade the comparatively cheap opium to the Chinese in return for their more costly products.

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Jamsetjee began his trading firm, Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy and Company, with three non-Parsi Indian partners who helped him procure opium from Malwa and ship it along with cotton from the ports of Bombay and Daman, which was then under Portuguese rule. He selected his partners with care: Motichand Amichund, a Jain, had close ties to the opium producers in the western central plateau of Malwa; Mohammed Ali Rogay was a Konkani shipowner and captain; and Rogerio de Faria was a Goan Catholic who liaised with the Portuguese authorities who controlled the port of Daman. Jamsetjee owned opium warehouses in Malwa and his letters to agents show that he carefully monitored the prices at which to buy and sell his stock. He was a remarkably perceptive judge of the market. The Chinese were impressed with his integrity in business dealings, as were others with whom he came in contact. Jamsetjee was recognised as the foremost member of his community and the British government honoured him by making him the first Indian baronet with hereditary rights for his descendants. If Jamsetjee’s early life had centred on trade and making his fortune, after he turned forty, he focused on philanthropy and civic affairs. He set up more than 125 charitable institutions and donated a reported £2,450,000 over the course of his life.

Excerpted with permission from Penguin Random House

The Tatas, Freddie Mercury & Other Bawas: An Intimate History of the Parsis

Coomi Kapoor

Penguin Random House

Pp 362, Rs 599