Purshottamdas Thakurdas: The cotton trader whose economic vision India ignored

Take Purshottamdas Thakurdas, the Gujarati cotton trader and industrialist from Bombay. Had the Indian government followed the blueprint set out in the Bombay Plan of 1944, Thakurdas might have been remembered as the architect of an economic revolution.

Read this | Vikram Sarabhai, the cosmic capitalist whose vision encompassed Indian industry

The 15-year investment strategy, outlined in January 1944 and initially meant for private circulation, had the potential to set India on a vastly different economic trajectory. Thakurdas, who condensed it into two pamphlet-sized volumes and published them as A Brief Memorandum Outlining a Plan of Economic Development for India in 1945, could have been hailed as one of its founding fathers.

Instead, the Indian government, in its wisdom, chose a different path—one that condemned the country to a miserly rate of growth, later derisively dubbed the “Hindu rate of growth,” for the first four decades of independence.

The other signatories of the almost-forgotten document—industrialists like J.R.D. Tata, G.D. Birla, Lala Shriram, and Kasturbhai Lalbhai, as well as public figures like A.D. Shroff and John Mathai—moved on to their primary vocations and earned their spurs in business and finance. Thakurdas, however, became a footnote.

This, despite his many achievements.

Born in May 1879 into a wealthy Gujarati bania family that had moved from Surat to Bombay, he lost his father at a young age. A kindly uncle raised him as his own, absorbing him into his cotton and oilseeds trading firm after he graduated from Elphinstone College and attained his law degree.

Thakurdas went on to become president of the East India Cotton Association and, in 1927, along with G.D. Birla, co-founded the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci). Historian Bipan Chandra, in India Wins Independence, notes that Ficci was part of the efforts to establish a national-level organization of Indian commercial, industrial, and financial interests, in contrast to the already well-organized European business lobbies in India.

Though a die-hard nationalist, Thakurdas also earned the respect of the British, who conferred on him the titles of Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire and Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Recognizing his meticulous attention to detail and sense of fair play, the colonial government appointed him to several committees, including one entrusted with apportioning public holidays among various Indian communities—a shrewd and calculated move.

Read this | Cotton King Govindram Seksaria: The Marwari maven of pre-Independence trade

In his PhD thesis, The Politics of Moderation: Britain and the Indian Liberal Party 1917-1923, scholar Philip Graham Woods writes: “It was increasingly important for the British, therefore, not to alienate the ‘middle-ground’ of Indian economic interests, represented by industrialists like Purshottamdas Thakurdas and others.”

Yet Thakurdas also enjoyed the confidence of the Indian National Congress, despite his well-articulated misgivings about Gandhi’s Civil Disobedience movement. His ability to command trust on both sides allowed him to arbitrate on key national issues. He pressed for a strong and autonomous central banking system, playing an influential role in the formative years of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He was also a founding member of the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (formerly the Indian Institute of Bankers) and served on its Council until his death on 4 July 1961.

As a successful businessman, Sir PT, as he was known, firmly believed in free enterprise and the power of market forces to allocate resources efficiently. Yet he was unlike the extractive capitalists who hijacked the economies of many newly independent nations. 

In his authoritative biography of Thakurdas, Dom Moraes writes: “Despite their large stake in private enterprise, the Bombay planners, mainly under the initiative of Sir Purshotamdas, followed a middle course in the larger national context. Indeed, they conceded without reservation that the existing economic organization of the country, based on private enterprise and ownership, had failed to bring about a satisfactory distribution of national income.”

Also read | How Manu Manek aka Black Cobra went from college trader to market marauder

History may have relegated him to the margins of India’s economic narrative, but in his commitment to both free enterprise and social welfare, Thakurdas charted a balanced path—one the country would eventually adopt decades later. It was a testament to the enduring wisdom of a man who saw far beyond his time.