Research Context

The current study analyses the process of change in the Howrah foundry cluster. Howrah is Kolkatta’s twin town (the West Bengal state’s capital). It is located on the banks of the Hooghly River. It emerged as an industrial town by 1947. The foundry industry is an essential part of Howrah’s industrial landscape. The industry is located along a five-kilometer stretch, from Bamungachi to Bantra, around the Howrah railway station. Figure 1 below depicts the foundry industry centers in the Howrah district.

Figure 1. Major centers of foundry industry in Howrah.

Note: Howrah district is divided into sixteen administrative unitsFootnote ²⁶. Howrah Municipality has been the most urbanized unit in the district. The foundry cluster is concentrated in this administrative unit in centers such as Bantra, Salkia, Belilious Road, Bamangachi, and Shipbur.

Data Sources

The two primary data sources used in the paper are Large Industrial Establishments in India (hereafter, LIEI) and Thacker’s India Directory (hereafter TID). LIEI was a biennial government publication from 1911-1949. After that, it was published annually from 1950-1958. Subsequently, it was published after a gap of eight years in 1966. Its last issue came in1978. LIEI contained a list of factories active in the particular year, classified by industry, province (later states) and district. TID was a private publication of Thacker, Spink & Co. It was published annually from 1864-1960. The editions from 1864-1884 covered only the Bengal presidency and were titled Thacker’s Bengal Directory. It contained a host of information. The most significant sections for our purpose were (1) Calcutta commercial, (2) Commercial Industries (Iron Works) and (3) Trades and Professions (Engineers and Iron Founders/ Iron Founders). The Calcutta commercial contained a list of Calcutta’s factories,their address and products. The other two sections included a list of iron works (or iron foundries) in India. In the earlier editions of TID, section 3 had a more exhaustive list of iron foundries. However, from 1915 onwards, section 2 contained a more thorough list of iron foundries. We used LIEI and TID to create a database of the Howrah iron foundry firms.

A firm was active in a particular year if it was mentioned in either of the two sources. Thus, the total number of firms in a specific year is the union of the number of firms mentioned in LIEI and TID. A firm was assumed to be born in a particular year if it was mentioned in either of the sources but not in the previous edition (published two years before) of these sources. For example, if a firm X is mentioned in either LIEI or TID of 1915 but is not mentioned in LIEI or TID of 1913, it is considered to have been born in 1915. Similarly,a firm was considered to have died in a particular year if it was either mentioned in LIEI orTID of that year but not in the next edition (published two years after) of either LIEI or TID. For example, if a firm X is mentioned in either LIEI or TID of 1915 but not in LIEI or TID of1917, it is considered to have died in 1915. There is a possibility that a firm mentioned inLIEI or TID of year X was born in the preceding year X -1 (i.e. a firm assumed to have been born in the year 1915 was born in 1914). The same possibility holds for the year in which a firm died. However, since LIEI, which provided an official and more exhaustive list of foundries, was published biennially, we relied on a biennial count of firm births and deaths for our analysis (see Table A3a in Appendix).

The firm’s size is equal to the number of workers it employs. LIEI provided the data on the number of workers. The address of most of the firms up to the post office1 (i.e. zipcode) level is mentioned in LIEI. The TID also contains the address of firms up to the post office (i.e. zip code) level. This was used to determine the number of firms in a particular area (Belillious Road, Salkia, Bamangachi or Shibpur).

Apart from LIEI and TID, we consulted historical works related to Howrah’s industrial development. These included organizational histories, industry association archives, government publications and secondary sources. Organizational histories included History of the Supply Department, 1939-1946 and The Story of Jessop: On to Third Century,1788-1988. Though focussed on individual organizations, these organizational histories also provided contextual details about Howrah’s industrial development. The publications by industry associations included Engineering Industries of Howrah, and Indian Engineering Industries. These were published annually by the Howrah Manufacturer’s Association and the Engineering Association of India. The Correspondence Relating to Purchase of Stores published by the Indian Engineering Association provided valuable details on the foundry and engineering industry’s development from 1905 to 1923. Government reports such as the Indian Tariff Board reports, the coalfields committee and the stores’ purchase committee report provided insight into the policy changes. A crucial secondary source, Howrah: A Study in Social Geography, provided a glimpse into Howrah’s overall industrial development. Table A4 in the Appendix lists all these sources.

Change in Regulations and Policies

World War I had far-reaching implications for India’s industrial development. There was a gradual shift in the laissez-faire policy, driven by war requirements. The Indian Tariff ActFootnote ²⁷ was amended in 1916 to increase the ad valorem import duty from 5 to 7.5 percent. The import duty on certain iron and steel products also rose from 1 to 2.5 percent.

However, more important from a long-term perspective was the appointment of the Indian Industrial Commission (IIC) in 1916 to suggest measures for further industrial development in India.Footnote ²⁸ The Commission submitted its report in 1919. It recommended the establishment of a centralized Indian Stores Department and a provincial Department of Industries. Establishing a centralized stores department that could scrutinize the indents for stores before sending them to the India Office in London had been a long-drawn demand of the Indian engineering industry.Footnote ²⁹ This was expected to encourage the purchase of Indian products by the government, the largest consumer of engineering goods, thus boosting the growth of the engineering and foundry industry.

Change in Demand

The war made obtaining supplies such as munitions, railway rolling stock, and engineering goods from Europe difficult. There was a lack of Indian enterprises that could manufacture these goods. This forced the government to seriously consider industrial underdevelopment in India. An Indian Munitions Board was set up in 1917, primarily to secure the supplies for the army and develop the industries in India.Footnote ³⁰

Change in Raw Material Supply

It was only a year before the war that the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO), located in JamshedpurFootnote ³¹, started the production of pig iron and steel.Footnote ³² The war became a boon to TISCO, creating more than enough demand to engage its works. The only other company producing pig iron during the time was the Bengal Iron Company (BIC)Footnote ³³. It also made cast iron pipes, railway sleepers, and miscellaneous castings.Footnote ³⁴ The war created a massive demand for these products. During this period, 6000 vehicles, 200 engines, 1800 miles of rail tracks, and 13,000 feet of bridgework were sent out of India to different war locations in Mesopotamia, East Africa, and Palestine.Footnote ³⁵ TISCO and BIC contributed the bulk of this production. This was reflected in TISCO and BIC’s high pig iron production levels.Footnote ³⁶ The output of other principal raw material, coal, rose from 16,464,263 tons in 1914 to 20,722,493 tons in 1918.Footnote ³⁷

Change in Actors

The favorable conditions created by World War I led to the setting up of new foundries in Howrah. Most of these foundries were small-scale and established by Indian proprietors. Before the breakout of the war in 1913, twenty-one foundries in Howrah employed 10,060 workers.Footnote ³⁸ Ten were owned by European managing agencies or proprietors, eight by Indian proprietors, one by an Indian partnership, and two by Indo-European managing agencies. The war increased the number of foundries from twenty-one in 1913 to thirty-four in 1919.Footnote ³⁹ The number of people employed in these firms increased from 10,060 in 1913 to 11,324 in 1919. Several new foundries were established during this period. Two new foundries, owned by Indian proprietors, were established in 1915. Fourteen and ten new foundries were established in 1917 and 1919, respectively. On average, the firms born in 1917 and 1919 employed thirty-eight and forty-eight workers, respectively.

Almost all the firms active at the end of this period were proprietary concerns. The two exceptions—Dey, Kundu & Co. and Star Iron Works—were partnership firms. Both the proprietary and partnership concerns were established by Indians (Bengalis). Most proprietors belonged to the Bengali Kayastha, Brahmin, and Baidya communities. Almost all the new firms were jobbing foundries and were sustained by orders from larger firms.Footnote ⁴⁰

Change in Cluster Structure

As many foundry products could not be imported, some firms diversified horizontally and began manufacturing foundry products catering to different industries. The cluster growth was driven mainly by the entry of indigenous Bengali entrepreneurs. Most of these entrepreneurs started at the lower end of the value chain by establishing jobbing foundries that worked on contracts received from bigger firms. Thus, there was also vertical differentiation during this phase of cluster growth.

The Indian Engineering Association (IEA) was the only association representing the foundries in the Howrah district. It was also connected to influential industry associations like the Bengal Chamber of Commerce. The local purchase of government stores had been a long-time demand of the Association because the government was the largest consumer of foundry and engineering products. The government, in principle, agreed to the request. However, technical intricacies—such as lack of inspection facilities, modalities of simultaneous tendering, and price comparison of stores manufactured in Britain and India—hindered the local purchase of stores. The Association regularly highlighted these roadblocks in its communications to the government’s Department of Commerce and Industry Secretary. The Association also publicized its grievance through the local press and published articles on the lack of assistance to local industries in reputed magazines. All these efforts led to a slow but definite change in government policy. A perusal of the communication records between the IEA and the government shows that these issues assumed greater urgency on the eve of World War I. This is reflected in the increased frequency of the association meetings and communication with the government.Footnote ⁴¹ This urgency led the government to concede to several provisions related to the local purchase of government stores. Thus, the lobbying activity of the Association played a vital role in bringing about change in policy and regulations. IEA also apprised the government authorities that some members were interested in diversifying into railway rolling stock production. Also, the war created difficulties for the railways in importing several rolling stock items such as bogies, wagons, and cast-iron sleepers from Britain. The railway board contacted the IEA and enquired if the Association’s members could manufacture these items in India. The Association collected the relevant data from its members, shared it with the railway board, and arranged meetings of its members with board officials. Many members could secure railway rolling stock orders because of these efforts. The Association, therefore, acted as a bridge between the individual firms and the different government agencies.

Change in Activities

Before the war, most of the firms in the cluster were engaged in shipbuilding, ship repair, and structural engineering. Some firms also produced industrial machinery such as sugarcane crushers, jute bales, and oil seed pressers on a small scale.Footnote ⁴² During the war, Albion Foundry (an old firm) manufactured shell cases required for war purposes.Footnote ⁴³ John, King & Co., which was primarily involved with shipbuilding and ship repair, undertook the manufacturing of diverse items such as jute baling presses, colliery coal tubs, crankshafts, milling machines, lathes, steam hammers, winding engines, and drying machines for roping.Footnote ⁴⁴ Balmer, Lawrie & Co., primarily involved with structural engineering, started repairing electrical machinery.Footnote ⁴⁵ Jessop & Co. secured the contract to expand the TISCO facilities at Sakchi (now Jamshedpur).Footnote ⁴⁶ The project led to the extension of its structural workshop at Howrah. The iron castings of various sizes required for the project were fabricated at its Howrah foundry. It undertook the manufacture of hydraulic presses, engine pumps, colliery, and mill equipment. However, it also faced significant handicaps in expanding its capacity due to the restrictions on importing raw materials and machinery. It had to depend solely on Indian pig iron and steel, both of which were in short supply during the war.

Change in Location

The twenty-one foundries that functioned in 1913 were in different regions of the Howrah district (Table 1).

Table 1. Location of foundries across different areas in Howrah

Note: Percentages are rounded off to zero decimal places.

Seven foundries (33 percent) were in Salkia, six (29 percent) in Shibpur, three (14 percent) along Belillios Road, two (10 percent) in Bamangachi, and one (5 percent) in Bantra. All of these centers were located within the boundaries of Howrah Municipality. Thus, 90 percent of the foundries in the Howrah district were located in the Howrah Municipality. Two foundries (10 percent) were located outside Howrah Municipality, one each in Bally and Andul. By the end of this period, Salkia was still the center of the foundry industry. However, areas such as Bantra and Bamangachi were the emerging hubs. Of the thirty-four firms active in 1919, thirty (85 percent) were located in the Howrah municipality. Out of these, ten (29 percent) were in Salkia, six (18 percent) in Shibpur, six (18 percent) in Bantra, four (12 percent) in Bamangachi, and three (9 percent) in Belilious Road. There were four foundries (15 percent) located outside Howrah Municipality, with one (3 percent) in Bally, one (3 percent) in Liluah, and two (6 percent) in Jagacha.

Change in Regulations and Policies

The beginning of the interwar period, 1919–1938, saw the implementation of some of the recommendations of the Indian Industrial Commission. A permanent Department of Industries in Bengal was formed in early 1920 with Dr. D.B. Meek, former Controller of Munitions Bengal, as its director.Footnote ⁴⁷

The second was the appointment of a Fiscal Commission in 1921 to examine the government’s tariff policy.Footnote ⁴⁸ The Commission recommended an approach of discriminatory protection to industries that could not develop without protection. The government also appointed a tariff board to inquire into the nature and degree of protection for different industries.Footnote ⁴⁹ The first industry which received the government’s attention regarding protection was the steel industry. The Tariff Board submitted its report on the steel industry in 1924 and recommended protection in the form of increased import duties for iron and steel products. The recommendation received legislative sanction with the enactment of the Steel Industry (Protection) Act, 1924.Footnote ⁵⁰ Although the Act was reviewed several times, it continued to be in effect with minor modifications until the end of this period. The Act ceased to be in force after 1947.

The third was the appointment of the Stores Committee to report on the possible changes in its policy to encourage Indian industries.Footnote ⁵¹ The Committee submitted its report in 1920. Following the recommendations, the stores purchase policy was revised in 1924.Footnote ⁵² The revised policy led to the setting up of a centralized Indian Stores Department (ISD). A further change in stores policy occurred in 1931 with the imperial government’s adoption of the Rupee Tender System (RTS).Footnote ⁵³ This system of stores purchase was also adopted by the Bengal government in 1933. The RTS laid down the preference order for the stores purchases. The first preference was to be given to Indian products made from Indian raw materials. The second preference was for Indian products manufactured from imported materials. The third preference was for imported materials held in stock in India, and the last preference was to be given to imported articles.

Another significant policy change in Bengal was the enactment of The Bengal State Aid to Industries Act in 1931. The Act was meant to provide financial assistance to cottage and small industries.Footnote ⁵⁴ However, it did not have the desired effect on establishing new industries due to restrictive provisions in its implementation.

The labor policy and regulations also witnessed significant changes during this phase. The early interwar years saw labor unrest in all the major industrial centers, such as Bombay and Calcutta.Footnote ⁵⁵ There had been a gradual rise in prices even before the war.Footnote ⁵⁶ This continued during and after the war. Accordingly, the demand for wage increases was the most common cause of the industrial strikes.Footnote ⁵⁷ The strikes led to a definite increase in workers’ wages, though it was often not commensurate with their demands. The imperial and provincial governments were forced to recognize the labor issues as the strikes became widespread.Footnote ⁵⁸ This resulted in the establishment of labor institutions and the enactment of crucial labor legislation.

The provincial government of Madras appointed a Commissioner of Labour in 1920.Footnote ⁵⁹ The same year, the Bengal government appointed a Labour Intelligence officer, and the Imperial government established the Labour Bureau. The Bengal government appointed a committee in 1921 to investigate the causes of industrial strikes. That committee recommended setting up the Conciliation Courts and Works Committee to deal with industrial conflicts. These committees were set up temporarily in Bengal and arbitrated a few industrial disputes. However, it was not until 1929 that a formal Trade Disputes Act was passed.Footnote ⁶⁰ The Act was further amended in 1938. The issue of trade union legislation came up before the central legislature because of a trade dispute in Madras.Footnote ⁶¹ Tentative proposals for trade union legislation were published in 1921. However, it took five years of deliberations before the Trade Unions Act 1926 was passed. The Act came into effect in June 1927.

Change in Demand

The changed stores policy catalyzed the purchase of local goods by the Indian Stores Department. This led to increased demand for engineering and foundry products manufactured by firms in Howrah. During this period, the railways were the biggest consumer of engineering goods. According to the new stores policy, the government railways were required to send copies of their foreign indents to the Indian Stores Department to ascertain if some c could be purchased from Indian companies. This also contributed to an increase in demand for foundry products.

A major infrastructure project in Howrah, the new Howrah Bridge, commenced towards the end of this period in 1936.Footnote ⁶² The project provided impetus to the local engineering and foundry industry. There was considerable lobbying by the Indian engineering firms to secure the project’s tender. However, the contract for the project went to Clevland & Co. of Britain. The lobbying, however, ensured that principal Indian engineering firms Burn & Co., Braithwaite & Co., and Jessop & Co. were appointed as subcontractors.

Change in Raw Material Supply

The production of two primary raw materials—pig iron and coal—for foundries increased substantially during this period. The graphs below show the broad trend in producing these two raw materials for the period under consideration.

The overall coal production in India rose from around 22.6 million tons in 1919 to 28.3 million tons in 1939.Footnote ⁶³ The corresponding output in Eastern India increased from 20.9 million tons in 1919 to 23.1 million tons in 1939. However, as is evident from Figures 3 and 4, the overall production decreased significantly after the war and was followed by a consequent increase in price. It was not until 1928 that the output could match the war levels. The worldwide depression began in the early 1930s, and production again showed a downward trend. The production started to recover from the effects of depression from 1934 onwards.

Figure 3. Coal production in India (blue line) and Eastern India (Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa) (red line), 1919–1938.

Source. Prepared by the authors from various sources (see the Appendix).

Figure 4. Price of coal in Bengal, 1919–1938.

Source. Prepared by the authors from various sources (see the Appendix).

Pig iron production rose from 286,948 tons in 1919 to 1,539,889 tons in 1938.Footnote ⁶⁴ As is evident from Figure 5, pig iron production increased significantly from 1923 onwards. It was in this year that two new steel plants—the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) at Hirapur in Bengal and Mysore Iron Works (MIW) at Bhadravati in Mysore (now Karnataka)—began producing pig iron.Footnote ⁶⁵ IISCO was floated by Burn & Co. as early as 1918, although production began only in November 1922. The princely state of Mysore floated Mysore Iron Works, and it started production in 1923. IISCO later entered into a profit-sharing arrangement with the Bengal Iron Company (BIC), managed by Martin & Co., in 1925.Footnote ⁶⁶ The agreement enabled the company to tide over the slump in the iron and steel trade of the mid-1920s. Further integration of the two companies took place in 1936 when they merged, and IISCO took over the assets of BIC. IISCO was also the principal supplier of pig iron to the steel manufacturing firm Steel Corporation of Bengal (SCOB), floated by Burn & Co. in 1937.

Figure 5. Production of pig Iron in India, 1919–1938

Source. Prepared by the authors from various sources (see the Appendix).

Change in Actors

The early interwar years were also turbulent in terms of the establishment of new foundries.Footnote ⁶⁷ Whereas ten new foundries were established between 1919 and 1921, thirteen were closed during the same time. Following the worldwide depression in the early 1930s, there was a significant reduction of workers in the industry. The total number of workers employed decreased from 15,489 in 1929 to 10,725 in 1931 and 9,252 in 1933. A significant part of the decrease in 1933 was due to the closure of one of the oldest and largest foundries, Jessop & Co.’s Howrah Foundry.Footnote ⁶⁸ The reason for the closure was the government’s acquisition of Howrah Foundry’s land for the Howrah Bridge project. Jessop & Co. consequently shifted their foundries and structural workshop to Dumdum.

The existence of larger foundries, engineering firms, and railway workshops in Howrah encouraged the establishment of smaller foundries. Large firms served as a training ground for the next generation of entrepreneurs. This was the case with Benoy Kumar Das, who established the Bantra Engineering Works in 1922, along with his brother D.K. Das.Footnote ⁶⁹ He was earlier employed as a marine engineer by the firm Apcar & Co., one of the largest shipping companies of the time. The larger firms lowered the cost of entry into the foundry industry by creating a secondhand machinery market. The entrepreneurs who wanted to enter the foundry business could purchase the old and discarded machinery from firms such as Burn & Co.; John, King & Co.; Port Engineering Works; and Railway Workshop at Liluah.Footnote ⁷⁰

The existence of mill industries in Howrah also gave impetus to the foundry industry. Many entrepreneurs who owned mills entered the foundry industry with the intention of backward integration and manufacturing mill machinery for the market. This was the case with foundries such as Atta Iron Foundry and Dhang & Co., which both owned oil mills before they entered the foundry business and started manufacturing oil seed presses.Footnote ⁷¹ Educational institutions such as Bengal Engineering College (BEC) also gave impetus to the growth of the foundries, with many of its students establishing foundries in the Howrah district. One such case was Sardindu Guha, who passed out of BEC in 1925. He worked for a short period at B.D. Berry & Co. in Calcutta and later started the Liluah Iron Works at Howrah in 1930.Footnote ⁷²

Toward the end of this period, World War II speculations encouraged the formation of new foundries. Eleven new foundries began between 1935 and 1937. The share prices of larger foundries such as Britannia Building & Iron Co and Burn & Co. also experienced significant increases toward the end of this period.Footnote ⁷³ The share prices of Britannia Building & Iron Co increased from Rs. 3.5 in 1935 to Rs. 9 in 1939, whereas the share prices of Burn & Co. increased from Rs. 122.5 to Rs. 274.5 during the same time. The period witnessed a slow growth of the foundry industry in Howrah. The number of foundries increased from thirty-four in 1919 to forty-eight in 1939. The number of employees increased from 11,324 in 1919 to 12,987 in 1939. Most of the firms at the end of this period were propriety concerns. However, there were also eight partnership firms. Indians (Bengalis) owned most of these firms. Most owners, proprietors, and partners belonged to the Bengali Kayastha, Brahmin, and Baidya communities. However, a minority of owners belonging to the Mahisya community had also emerged by this time.Footnote ⁷⁴ Mahisya entrepreneurs gradually emerged as industrial leaders and played an essential role in organizing small-scale foundries. B.K. Das, the founder of the Howrah Manufacturers Association, belonged to the Mahisya community.

Change in Cluster Structure

Compared with the larger and older firms, the firms established by indigenous Bengali entrepreneurs operated on a small scale. Most of these firms employed less than a hundred workers (Appendix, Table A3b). Thus, the cluster became vertically differentiated into large and small firms. The smaller firms faced several disadvantages because of differential government policies concerning smaller foundries. One of the difficulties for smaller foundries was securing pig iron at competitive prices. TISCO and IISCO were the leading producers of pig iron. These two firms also manufactured cast iron products that gave competition to the smaller foundries. Furthermore, these two larger firms received protection under the Steel Industry (Protection) Act of 1924. The smaller firms alleged that the two larger firms artificially inflated pig iron prices.Footnote ⁷⁵ Since pig iron was the primary raw material for foundries, this created an unfair competitive scenario for smaller foundries. Also, these small-scale foundries were not represented at the IEA. Furthermore, IEA was dominated by large foundries and engineering firms owned mainly by Europeans. Even in 1939, the executive committee of the IEA consisted only of European firms. These concerns prompted some indigenous Bengali entrepreneurs to establish the Howrah Manufacturers Association (HMA) in 1934 to protect and promote the interest of small and medium-scale foundries.Footnote ⁷⁶ B.K. Das of Bantra Engineering Works played a pioneering role in establishing this association.

The Howrah Manufacturers Association was located at the then-emerging center of the foundry industry, Belilious Road. Most of the Indian-owned foundries were concentrated in this area. At the end of this period, the foundry industry in Howrah was represented by two associations, the IEA and HMA. The HMA published an annual brochure titled “Engineering Industries in Howrah” to give visibility to the small-scale industries in Howrah. It also maintained a library that was available for use by its members. The Association further provided advisory services to its members regarding government legislation, taxation, labor relations, and other industrial matters. It also helped its members deal with the government, procure raw materials, organize exhibitions, and create a market for their products.Footnote ⁷⁷

Another significant change in the cluster’s structure was the formation of labor unions. The early interwar years witnessed a growing incidence of labor strikes in the Howrah foundry industry.Footnote ⁷⁸ Labor strikes were organized at major foundries such as Burn & Co.; Hooghly Docking & Engineering Co.; Shalimar Works; Jessop & Co.; John, King & Co.; and Dey & Kundu’s in 1920. As was the case in the rest of India, the primary cause of the strike was the demand for wage increases. The strikes led to the organization of labor and the growth of the trade union movement in Howrah. The Howrah Labour Union was a prominent trade union in Bengal in 1921. It was affiliated with the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and continued until 1927.Footnote ⁷⁹ Toward the end of this period in 1938, a generic labor union, Howrah Sramik Mandal—affiliated with AITUC—existed in Howrah.Footnote ⁸⁰ It had 500 members. Specialized unions related to the foundry industry existed at the Bengal provincial level. These were the Engineering and Metal Workers Union (EMWU) and the Bengal Steel and Iron Workers Union (BSIWU). Both were in Calcutta and had 200 and 248 members, respectively.

Change in Activities

The primary customers of foundries during this period were railways, mills, Public Works Department (PWD), Post and Telegraph (P&T), and Indian Stores Department (ISD). Many foundries also manufactured end-customer castings such as frying pans, buckets, and rice bowls. This is evident from Table 3 below, showing the product portfolio of some of the firms that existed during this period.

Table 3. Product portfolio of iron foundries in Howrah, 1919–1938

Source: Thacker’s India Directory (various years), Indian Engineering Industries (various years).

Change in Location

At the end of this period, there were forty-eight foundries, with forty-five (94 percent) and three foundries (6 percent) located in and outside the Howrah Municipality, respectively. Belilious Road and Bantra emerged as new centers of the foundry industry at the end of this period. Out of the forty-eight foundries in 1939, twelve (25 percent) were located in Belilious Road and eleven (23 percent) in Bantra. Salkia was still the center of the foundry industry, with fourteen (29 percent) foundries in this area.

Change in Regulations and Policies

As World War II broke out, the government created a centralized Department of Supply in 1939 to expedite the sourcing of war products. The government also created, in 1940, a Director General of Munitions Production (DGMP) office headquartered in Calcutta. Almost all the engineering factories functioned under the direct or indirect control of DGMP during the war. The directorate worked in close contact with the industry associations. Advisory committees and panels were formed on which the members of industries were represented. A committee named Roger Mission was appointed in 1940 to study the problem of wartime supply. On its recommendation, the ambit of the DGMP was greatly expanded, and several new engineering sections were formed under it. The same year, a conference of British colonies in the eastern hemisphere, known as the Eastern Group Conference, was held in Delhi. The deliberations at the meeting led to the formation of the Eastern Group Council (EGC) to coordinate wartime production and distribution among member countries. The EGC placed large orders on the Indian engineering industries during the war. A small-scale industry conference of provincial governments and princely states was organized in New Delhi in 1942. It formalized policies to utilize the capabilities of small-scale industries for producing war supplies.Footnote ^{81 ,} Footnote ⁸²

The production and distribution of private engineering and allied industries functioned under strict government control during the war. The Factories Control of Production Order required engineering firms to manufacture only specific government-authorized products. The protective duties on steel were set to expire in 1941 but were continued due to wartime exigencies. Furthermore, the Iron and Steel Control of Production and Distribution Order gave power to the government to fix prices and determine allocations of iron and steel to license holders. The Machine Tool Control Order regulated the import and production of machine tools. The government ordered machine tools in bulk and distributed them to individual license holders. The Colliery Control Order was passed towards the end of the war in 1944 to overcome the crisis in coal production. It gave power to the government to regulate the formation of new collieries, fix prices, and control the production levels of individual collieries.Footnote ^{83 ,} Footnote ⁸⁴

Change in Demand

The war boosted the existing engineering industries, and many new lines of production were set up. The government financed the extension of private engineering firms and even established a few factories. The industry inspectors closely connected with engineering firms and provided valuable technical advice. This resulted in the expansion of different branches of the engineering industry. The production of bolts, nuts, and rivets was 21,700 tons in 1936, increasing to 50,000 tons in 1947.Footnote ⁸⁵The machine tool manufacturing capacity of the country increased from 100 tons per year before the war to 4,200 tons per year in 1944.Footnote ⁸⁶ The reduction in the import of textile machinery during the war prompted the formation of the Textile Machinery Corporation in 1939. It had branches in Gwalior and Calcutta. The Tata Electric and Locomotive Company came into being in 1945. It was the first Indian company to manufacture railway wheels and axles. The other branches of the engineering industry, such as shipbuilding and repairs, structural engineering, weighing machines, and wagon manufacturing, also registered significant growth.Footnote ^{87 ,} Footnote ⁸⁸

Although government control benefited the engineering industries, they faced considerable difficulties adjusting to the postwar situation. The major problem was adjusting to low demand, replacing the overworked machinery, and diversifying into civilian manufactures. There were additional challenges in establishing contacts with foreign suppliers and customers with whom they had lost touch during the war.Footnote ⁸⁹

Change in Raw Material Supply

The production of coal and pig iron fluctuated during this period. Coal production increased from 27,769,112 tons in 1939 to 29,433,253 tons in 1942. The production declined in the next three years before rising to 29,360,685 tons in 1946. The pig iron production rose from 1,757,040 tons in 1939 to 2,009,600 in 1941. It continued to decline in the subsequent years and stood at 1,443,376 tons in 1946.Footnote ⁹⁰

Change in Actors

The political shock of World War II drove the cluster change during this period. This led to an increase in domestic and international demand for foundry products. Many entrepreneurs in related industries, such as jute and coal, sensed the opportunity and invested in the foundry industry. The employees of existing foundries with the necessary technical expertise and capital also ventured into the industry. The number of foundries more than doubled during this period. It increased from forty-eight in 1939 to ninety-nine in 1947. Sixty-two new foundries were formed during this period. The number of persons employed in the foundries increased from 12,987 in 1939 to 16,849 in 1947.Footnote ⁹¹ At the end of the war, 19,150 workers were employed in this industry. The wartime boom was also reflected in the stock prices of large foundries such as Britannia Building Iron & Co. and Burn & Co. The share price of the former increased from Rs. 8.5 in 1939 to Rs. 21.75 in 1947, whereas the latter increased from Rs. 274.5 in 1939 to Rs. 772 in 1947.Footnote ⁹² However, in the postwar situation, the foundry industry faced decreasing demand. Nineteen foundries closed between 1947 and 1949.Footnote ⁹³

Most of the firms during this period continued to be owned by Bengalis. However, a minority of Marwaris had also ventured into the industry by the end of this period. Among the Bengalis, most owners, proprietors, and partners belonged to the Brahmin, Kayastha, and Mahishya communities. A minority of owners also belonged to the Baidya community.Footnote ⁹⁴

Also significant is the immediate background of some entrepreneurs who ventured into the foundry industry during this period. They came from a variety of backgrounds. Nursing Das Agarwalla, who floated the Tatanagar Foundry in 1941, was earlier involved in exporting and importing scrap iron. K.P. Mukherjee, who established an eponymous foundry in 1941, had worked at Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company. Babulaji Rajgarhia, who started the Hanuman Engineering Works in 1945, owned a jute mill started by his father. D.K. Das, the proprietor of Bantra Engineering Works, and his partner S.K. Das floated the Castings Corporation (India) in 1947.

Change in Cluster Structure

The period also saw the restructuring of the industry in terms of the growth of new associations. HMA and IEA were two significant associations that represented the industry before the war. IEA registered substantial growth during the period. Its membership increased from fifty-eight in 1939 to eighty-seven in 1943.Footnote ⁹⁵ Meanwhile, several indigenously owned foundries had grown.

Furthermore, successful indigenous entrepreneurs from other industries also established large-scale foundries to cater to the increase in demand. However, both these categories of foundries faced difficulty in securing government orders. The British-owned foundries were organized under the aegis of IEA. This gave them a first-mover advantage in establishing links with the government and obtaining wartime orders. The Indian-owned foundries were disadvantaged vis-à-vis the British-owned concerns regarding wartime orders. Thus, the market expansion for foundry products led to group-level conflict between the British and Indian-owned foundries. Indian-owned large and medium-scale foundries needed to start a separate association to represent their interests. This gave rise to the Engineering Association of India (EAI) in 1942.

EAI represented the interests of Indian (as opposed to European) engineering and foundry manufacturers.Footnote ⁹⁶ This newly formed association was affiliated with Indian business associations such as the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). EAI helped its members to secure government contracts during the war. It further helped the members deal with the government, secure raw material supply, and introduce prospective customers. EAI’s membership increased as more and more Indian entrepreneurs ventured into the foundry industry. The total membership of EAI increased sharply from thirteen (in 1942) to 123 (in 1945) in three years. Thus, EAI gradually increased its influence in the cluster. The Association also facilitated the industry’s growth by promoting sector-specific associations such as machine tools, electric fans, and jute machinery.

Trade union activity also gained ground in the foundry industry during this time. The first union, the Iron Factory Workers Union, catering specifically to the workers in the iron industry, was founded at Howrah in 1942. Its membership increased from two thousand in 1942 to 2,965 in 1947. The Engineering and Metal Workers Union membership increased from two hundred in 1938 to 3,605 in 1947. Ghusuri Loha Karkhana Mazdoor Union, catering to the iron foundry workers in Ghusuri (an area in Howrah), was started in 1947. It had 782 members. Several organizational-level unions within the Howrah foundry industry also emerged during this time. Burn’s Labour Union, Shalimar Works Mazdoor Union, Port Engineering Workers Union, and Bantra Engineering Workers Union were prominent among these. All the above unions were affiliated with AITUC. Table 4 below lists the unions in the Howrah foundry industry at the end of this period.Footnote ⁹⁷

Table 4. Trade unions catering to Howrah Foundry industry, 1947

Source. All India Trade Union Report, 1947Footnote ⁹⁸

Change in Activities

Many old foundries diversified their production towards war supplies during this period. Bantra Engineering Works manufactured armored vehicle parts during the war. D.N. Singha & Co. produced nuts and bolts. The new foundries established during this period focused on manufacturing wartime products such as nuts, bolts and screws, machine tools, and industrial machinery. These foundries prospered and grew as they received orders from larger firms. As the war ended, many foundries had to close due to a sudden decrease in demand. However, new foundries geared towards civilian products were established in the postwar years. A perusal of the product portfolio of firms established before, during, and after the war (Table 5) supports this observation.Footnote ⁹⁹

Table 5. Product portfolio of iron foundries in Howrah, 1939–1947

Source Thacker’s India Directory (various years), Indian Engineering Industries (various years)

Change in Location

The concentration of foundries along the Belilious Road area grew during this period. At the end of this period, three crucial foundry industry centers were Salkia, Belilious Road, and Bantra, with thirty (30 percent), twenty-three (23 percent), and eighteen (18 percent) foundries respectively. Out of ninety-nine foundries in 1947, eighty-seven (88 percent) were in Howrah Municipality, and eleven (11 percent) were outside Howrah Municipality. Liluah was an emerging center of the foundry industry outside the Howrah Municipality, with six foundries (6 percent).