The Bigger Merchants

This chapter is concerned with how some bigger merchants were adversely affected by judicial decisions concerning their commercial activity. A change in the mores of business activities is noticeable. In the older values that underpin commercial activity, mutual trust played an important role. A significant cause of instability in the export trade was the structure of the consignment system. The manner in which credit was raised for the consignment trade and the motive of the European trading houses, interested more in their commissions than on the outturn of the commercial transactions, produced extreme instability in the market in Bombay. An undercurrent of disquiet over the terms on which trade took place and over the unequal position of Indian merchants is reflected in some insolvency proceedings.