Role o f Business in the Development of Economy
Business which includes trade and
commerce have played a vital role
since times memorial. You have
studied in your earlier classes that our
country, India, had a golden past and
the trading activities had a significant
contribution to its prosperity and
gains. The archaeological evidences
have shown that trading activities were
the mainstay of the economy in ancient
times which were carried out by both
water and land routes. Silk route and
maritime trade were quite prominent
in transporting goods and commodities
for trading purposes.The goods were traded both
internally and to the foreign lands,
which generated surplus income. As
a result, the people were engaged
in various economic activities such
as agriculture and domestication
of animals, weaving cotton, dyeing
fabrics, making clay pots, utensils
and handicrafts, sculpting, cottage
industries, masonry, etc. Family
based workshops [karkhanas], for
manufacturing, were important
components of economic life. This
money was channelised into further
investment, and led to the dominant
growth of indigenous banking system
to finance the trading activities.
An example of it is the use of
age old Hundi and Chitties (used in
southern region). These were used
as documents to facilitate transfer of
money from one hand to another for
trading activities. As an instrument
of exchange it involved a contract
which —
(i) warrant the payment of
money, the promise or order which is
unconditional
(ii) capable of change
through transfer by valid negotiation
.
Why there was a need to create an
intangible form of exchange of money.
It was so because travelling long
distances either by land or sea involved
risk of theft and robbery. Hundi which
literally means ‘to collect’ was written
in vernacular language and facilitated
the safe transfer of money between
parties and helped promotion of
trading activities.
