Agents of inertia : business, urban crisis, and economic decline in twentieth-century Calcutta / Gaurav C. Garg

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Garg, Gaurav C., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Business enterprises--India--Kolkata--History--20th century.

Business enterprises.

Urban economics.

Kolkata (India)--Economic conditions--20th century.

Kolkata (India).

Economic history.

India--Kolkata.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026

Summary:

"In the first half of the twentieth century, Asia’s colonial trade, commerce, and enterprise pivoted on five cities—Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Calcutta, and Bombay. Today, among these, only Calcutta no longer plays a significant role in the Asian or global economy. Why? This book answers this question by investigating how Calcutta’s British and Indian businesses have engaged with the city’s infrastructural and economic challenges. It throws up a startling result: through the first seven decades of the twentieth century, Calcutta’s businesses, in contrast to their counterparts elsewhere, staunchly resisted several measures intended to update and improve the city’s infrastructure. It is this resistance, Agents of Inertia argues, that led to Calcutta’s postcolonial urban crisis and contributed to capital flight and economic decline. One of the first full-length monographs on Calcutta’s postcolonial urban-economic decline, it shows how big businesses not only make but can also break a city’s fortunes"-- Provided by publisher

Contents:

Making Calcutta ‘business-like’

The Grand Trunk Canal scheme

The Howrah Bridge

‘A Ford-sent opportunity’

Real estate capitalism : land-contingent strategies of accumulation

Calcutta’s urban regime and politics of inertia

‘A great, smelly, and congested impediment’, 1951-1965

Calcutta in crisis, 1965-1967

Capital flight and the end of Calcutta’s urban regime, 1968-1970

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed August 17, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Garg, Gaurav C. Agents of inertia

ISBN:

9781009755597

1009755595

OCLC:

1611117585

Publisher Number:

CIPO000418413

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license