Emergence and growth of Mumbai as a Port City - I | Maharashtra State PSC (MPSC): Preparation - MPSC (Maharastra) PDF Download

 Page 1


 
 
18
2 
 
 
EMERGENCE AND GROWTH OF MUMBAI 
AS A PORT CITY- I 
 
c) Cotton and Opium Trade 
d) Modes of Transportation 
 
a) Cotton and Opium Trade 
 
Unit Structure: 
 
2.0 Objectives 
2.1 Introduction 
2.2 Cotton Trade in Mumbai 
2.3  Opium Trade in Mumbai 
2.4 Conclusion 
2.5 Questions 
 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
It is said that Mumbai rose to importance by its natural process 
of selection when other parts like Salsette, Sopara, Kalyan and 
Thane lost it one after another.  These were several reasons that 
the old parts fell into disuse as - 
 
1. There was a drastic development in the shipping and navigation 
techniques. 
2. The old parts were situated in narrow and shallow creeks. 
3. The old parts were vulnerable to storm and pirates. 
Page 2


 
 
18
2 
 
 
EMERGENCE AND GROWTH OF MUMBAI 
AS A PORT CITY- I 
 
c) Cotton and Opium Trade 
d) Modes of Transportation 
 
a) Cotton and Opium Trade 
 
Unit Structure: 
 
2.0 Objectives 
2.1 Introduction 
2.2 Cotton Trade in Mumbai 
2.3  Opium Trade in Mumbai 
2.4 Conclusion 
2.5 Questions 
 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
It is said that Mumbai rose to importance by its natural process 
of selection when other parts like Salsette, Sopara, Kalyan and 
Thane lost it one after another.  These were several reasons that 
the old parts fell into disuse as - 
 
1. There was a drastic development in the shipping and navigation 
techniques. 
2. The old parts were situated in narrow and shallow creeks. 
3. The old parts were vulnerable to storm and pirates. 
 
 
4. The old were mostly sifted and with the passage of time, there 
was a need of larger ships with deeper Waters.  When the 
sailors began to handle ships to larger dimensions, requiring 
greater anchorage and berthing facilities, Mumbai as a part 
satisfied almost all these demands of the resolutionised 
navigation, and rose to the place of old parts.  
 
  Due to the result of certain geological changes occurred, 
Mumbai destined many national advantages over the old parts in 
the changed circumstances. It has a commodious, natural and 
sheltered harbour, which covered the area around 120 square 
miles of sea surface and a depth of about of fathoms in the main 
road of navigation required for trade and commerce. 
 
 Mumbai enjoyed a favourable geographical position in 
comparison with the main land.  The ghat routes through that, Nana 
and Bhor pases made it possible to bring the ports of salsette into 
economic touch with the hinterland, which enabled the Ulhas basin 
the most to command its early commercial lead.  Naturally, Mumbai 
rose to prominence and prospered due to the several advantages 
rendered by these Ghat passes.  The English exploited all these 
advantages of Mumbai to develop it into a leading port and trade 
centre of the modern world.    
 
 In addition to this the British introduced better means of 
communition like building of roads and construction of railways, to 
establish access with all parts of India especially with rich hinter - 
lands of Gujarath, the Deccan Platean and Maharashtra itself.  This 
led to establish commercial contact and growth of economic 
interest make Mumbai the economic hub of the vast interior and 
prospered as capital city of Maharashtra and economic capital of 
India later. 
 
COTTON TRADE IN MUMBAI 
 
 The Portuguese possessed Mumbai in 1535 from the 
Gujarath Sultan for trade, where coconuts and coir were traded.  
The British who came to India later understood the important of 
Mumbai and tried to possess with the help of force but could 
succeed but when they controlled Mumbai, they began to trade 
Salt, rice, irony, cloth, lead and sward blades with internal area and 
outside of India.  The trade commodities want on increasing day 
after day, within the short span of time Indian handicrafts because 
popular in and outside of markets.  Indian cotton, silk and muslin 
became the export commodity to European Countries like England, 
Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany.  As a matter of fact, Indian 
cotton was popular since the ancient civilization because of fertile 
land and conducive environment in the country.  Areas like the 
Page 3


 
 
18
2 
 
 
EMERGENCE AND GROWTH OF MUMBAI 
AS A PORT CITY- I 
 
c) Cotton and Opium Trade 
d) Modes of Transportation 
 
a) Cotton and Opium Trade 
 
Unit Structure: 
 
2.0 Objectives 
2.1 Introduction 
2.2 Cotton Trade in Mumbai 
2.3  Opium Trade in Mumbai 
2.4 Conclusion 
2.5 Questions 
 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
It is said that Mumbai rose to importance by its natural process 
of selection when other parts like Salsette, Sopara, Kalyan and 
Thane lost it one after another.  These were several reasons that 
the old parts fell into disuse as - 
 
1. There was a drastic development in the shipping and navigation 
techniques. 
2. The old parts were situated in narrow and shallow creeks. 
3. The old parts were vulnerable to storm and pirates. 
 
 
4. The old were mostly sifted and with the passage of time, there 
was a need of larger ships with deeper Waters.  When the 
sailors began to handle ships to larger dimensions, requiring 
greater anchorage and berthing facilities, Mumbai as a part 
satisfied almost all these demands of the resolutionised 
navigation, and rose to the place of old parts.  
 
  Due to the result of certain geological changes occurred, 
Mumbai destined many national advantages over the old parts in 
the changed circumstances. It has a commodious, natural and 
sheltered harbour, which covered the area around 120 square 
miles of sea surface and a depth of about of fathoms in the main 
road of navigation required for trade and commerce. 
 
 Mumbai enjoyed a favourable geographical position in 
comparison with the main land.  The ghat routes through that, Nana 
and Bhor pases made it possible to bring the ports of salsette into 
economic touch with the hinterland, which enabled the Ulhas basin 
the most to command its early commercial lead.  Naturally, Mumbai 
rose to prominence and prospered due to the several advantages 
rendered by these Ghat passes.  The English exploited all these 
advantages of Mumbai to develop it into a leading port and trade 
centre of the modern world.    
 
 In addition to this the British introduced better means of 
communition like building of roads and construction of railways, to 
establish access with all parts of India especially with rich hinter - 
lands of Gujarath, the Deccan Platean and Maharashtra itself.  This 
led to establish commercial contact and growth of economic 
interest make Mumbai the economic hub of the vast interior and 
prospered as capital city of Maharashtra and economic capital of 
India later. 
 
COTTON TRADE IN MUMBAI 
 
 The Portuguese possessed Mumbai in 1535 from the 
Gujarath Sultan for trade, where coconuts and coir were traded.  
The British who came to India later understood the important of 
Mumbai and tried to possess with the help of force but could 
succeed but when they controlled Mumbai, they began to trade 
Salt, rice, irony, cloth, lead and sward blades with internal area and 
outside of India.  The trade commodities want on increasing day 
after day, within the short span of time Indian handicrafts because 
popular in and outside of markets.  Indian cotton, silk and muslin 
became the export commodity to European Countries like England, 
Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany.  As a matter of fact, Indian 
cotton was popular since the ancient civilization because of fertile 
land and conducive environment in the country.  Areas like the 
 
 
Deccan, Punjab, Peshawar, Nagpur and Telangana produced must 
cotton. 
 
 The trade in cotton got boosted after the Industrial revolution 
began in England. The British Government introduced the 
commercialization of agriculture after the American civil was  broke 
out in 1860.  The British transported the row cotton to Mumbai and 
shifted it to England.  Thus Mumbai became the centre of cotton 
trade with various countries specially China and England.  Mumbai 
had trade relations with China.  Since 1723, the British imported 
Chinese tea to India as well as exported it to Europe.  During the 
last decade of the eighteenth century China suffered severe famine 
which forced her to cultivate food grain in place of cotton, this lad 
China to import Indian row cotton.  Although Cotton was grown 
plentiful in Central China but shipping cotton from central China to 
Guangdong and Fujian the Southern provinces was costly than 
shipping cotton from India to China.  This export of cotton 
enhanced after Surat lost its importance as trading part to Mumbai.  
The heyday of trade in raw cotton was between 1787 and 1805, the 
value of exported cotton was above between 1787 and 1805, the 
value of exported cotton was above one hundred and fifty lakh, 
average eighty thousand bales of cotton worth Rs.65 lakha was 
exported every year from Mumbai to China and the raw cotton 
exported to England was more than four times.  Although, the 
company had monopoly on cotton trade from Mumbai to England, 
the cotton trade in western Maharashtra and its shipping was in the 
private houses or agencies of Mumbai like Forbes Smith and Law, 
Alexander Adamson and Bruce Lawceft.  In order to encourage the 
cotton trade, the Government of Mumbai had reduced customs 
duties from six to two and half percent in 1795.  The merchants 
involved in cotton trade in Mumbai preferred consignment system in 
which they consigned their goods to agents or agency houses, both 
British and Indian, who in turn took full responsibility of managing 
trading operations overseas and returning profit to the consignors in 
exchange for commission.  This system encouraged the people 
who had no knowledge of cotton trade, unable to speak English or 
any foreign language and had no substantial capital to engage 
them in long distance trade in cotton. 
 
 In 1797, the Bombay courier said that cotton trade in 
Mumbai boosted the fortune of Mumbai as it determined the rhythm 
of life in the late eighteenth century and sound early decades of 
nineteenth century Mumbai, for which it gave some credit to the 
mercantile excellence of the Mumbai port.  The Bombay Courier 
further said that the cotton used to come to Mumbai in a faily dirty 
state, it was cleaned, shifted to the cotton screws situated near the 
docks to be tightly compressed into bales, loaded into huge ships 
and exported to either China or England any other country.  
Although the cotton trade in Mumbai profited the Bombay 
Page 4


 
 
18
2 
 
 
EMERGENCE AND GROWTH OF MUMBAI 
AS A PORT CITY- I 
 
c) Cotton and Opium Trade 
d) Modes of Transportation 
 
a) Cotton and Opium Trade 
 
Unit Structure: 
 
2.0 Objectives 
2.1 Introduction 
2.2 Cotton Trade in Mumbai 
2.3  Opium Trade in Mumbai 
2.4 Conclusion 
2.5 Questions 
 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
It is said that Mumbai rose to importance by its natural process 
of selection when other parts like Salsette, Sopara, Kalyan and 
Thane lost it one after another.  These were several reasons that 
the old parts fell into disuse as - 
 
1. There was a drastic development in the shipping and navigation 
techniques. 
2. The old parts were situated in narrow and shallow creeks. 
3. The old parts were vulnerable to storm and pirates. 
 
 
4. The old were mostly sifted and with the passage of time, there 
was a need of larger ships with deeper Waters.  When the 
sailors began to handle ships to larger dimensions, requiring 
greater anchorage and berthing facilities, Mumbai as a part 
satisfied almost all these demands of the resolutionised 
navigation, and rose to the place of old parts.  
 
  Due to the result of certain geological changes occurred, 
Mumbai destined many national advantages over the old parts in 
the changed circumstances. It has a commodious, natural and 
sheltered harbour, which covered the area around 120 square 
miles of sea surface and a depth of about of fathoms in the main 
road of navigation required for trade and commerce. 
 
 Mumbai enjoyed a favourable geographical position in 
comparison with the main land.  The ghat routes through that, Nana 
and Bhor pases made it possible to bring the ports of salsette into 
economic touch with the hinterland, which enabled the Ulhas basin 
the most to command its early commercial lead.  Naturally, Mumbai 
rose to prominence and prospered due to the several advantages 
rendered by these Ghat passes.  The English exploited all these 
advantages of Mumbai to develop it into a leading port and trade 
centre of the modern world.    
 
 In addition to this the British introduced better means of 
communition like building of roads and construction of railways, to 
establish access with all parts of India especially with rich hinter - 
lands of Gujarath, the Deccan Platean and Maharashtra itself.  This 
led to establish commercial contact and growth of economic 
interest make Mumbai the economic hub of the vast interior and 
prospered as capital city of Maharashtra and economic capital of 
India later. 
 
COTTON TRADE IN MUMBAI 
 
 The Portuguese possessed Mumbai in 1535 from the 
Gujarath Sultan for trade, where coconuts and coir were traded.  
The British who came to India later understood the important of 
Mumbai and tried to possess with the help of force but could 
succeed but when they controlled Mumbai, they began to trade 
Salt, rice, irony, cloth, lead and sward blades with internal area and 
outside of India.  The trade commodities want on increasing day 
after day, within the short span of time Indian handicrafts because 
popular in and outside of markets.  Indian cotton, silk and muslin 
became the export commodity to European Countries like England, 
Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany.  As a matter of fact, Indian 
cotton was popular since the ancient civilization because of fertile 
land and conducive environment in the country.  Areas like the 
 
 
Deccan, Punjab, Peshawar, Nagpur and Telangana produced must 
cotton. 
 
 The trade in cotton got boosted after the Industrial revolution 
began in England. The British Government introduced the 
commercialization of agriculture after the American civil was  broke 
out in 1860.  The British transported the row cotton to Mumbai and 
shifted it to England.  Thus Mumbai became the centre of cotton 
trade with various countries specially China and England.  Mumbai 
had trade relations with China.  Since 1723, the British imported 
Chinese tea to India as well as exported it to Europe.  During the 
last decade of the eighteenth century China suffered severe famine 
which forced her to cultivate food grain in place of cotton, this lad 
China to import Indian row cotton.  Although Cotton was grown 
plentiful in Central China but shipping cotton from central China to 
Guangdong and Fujian the Southern provinces was costly than 
shipping cotton from India to China.  This export of cotton 
enhanced after Surat lost its importance as trading part to Mumbai.  
The heyday of trade in raw cotton was between 1787 and 1805, the 
value of exported cotton was above between 1787 and 1805, the 
value of exported cotton was above one hundred and fifty lakh, 
average eighty thousand bales of cotton worth Rs.65 lakha was 
exported every year from Mumbai to China and the raw cotton 
exported to England was more than four times.  Although, the 
company had monopoly on cotton trade from Mumbai to England, 
the cotton trade in western Maharashtra and its shipping was in the 
private houses or agencies of Mumbai like Forbes Smith and Law, 
Alexander Adamson and Bruce Lawceft.  In order to encourage the 
cotton trade, the Government of Mumbai had reduced customs 
duties from six to two and half percent in 1795.  The merchants 
involved in cotton trade in Mumbai preferred consignment system in 
which they consigned their goods to agents or agency houses, both 
British and Indian, who in turn took full responsibility of managing 
trading operations overseas and returning profit to the consignors in 
exchange for commission.  This system encouraged the people 
who had no knowledge of cotton trade, unable to speak English or 
any foreign language and had no substantial capital to engage 
them in long distance trade in cotton. 
 
 In 1797, the Bombay courier said that cotton trade in 
Mumbai boosted the fortune of Mumbai as it determined the rhythm 
of life in the late eighteenth century and sound early decades of 
nineteenth century Mumbai, for which it gave some credit to the 
mercantile excellence of the Mumbai port.  The Bombay Courier 
further said that the cotton used to come to Mumbai in a faily dirty 
state, it was cleaned, shifted to the cotton screws situated near the 
docks to be tightly compressed into bales, loaded into huge ships 
and exported to either China or England any other country.  
Although the cotton trade in Mumbai profited the Bombay 
 
 
merchants it also faced problems like seasonal monsoon winds, 
sea typhoons and pirates.  It is clear from the latter dated 12
th
 June, 
1800 of Mumbai merchants to the Governor of Mumbai extending 
protection from them, who shifted their base to the straits of 
Malacca later.  This problem was also compounded during the 
Napoleonic wars in Europe.  The cotton trade of Mumbai also faced 
other problems in Chinese market like the entry of domestic cotton 
of China and the cotton exported by the East India Company from 
Bengal, which was the better quality and fetched higher price.  This 
led Mumbai cotton to drop in its export china and other parts of the 
industrialized world.  
 
 The export of raw cotton required the building of huge ships 
capable of carrying this bulky commodity in large quantity.  This 
trade gave a major boost to the ship building industry in Mumbai in 
which names like (1) Lowjee Waida, (2) Royal Chalotte, (3) Good, 
(4) Success, (5) Bannajis, (6) Ready moneys, (7) Camas, (8) 
Dadiseths, (9) Jamsethjee Jejeebhoy and (10) Dorabjee Rustomjee 
Patell - were prominent the ship building industry in Mumbai.  The 
ships built of  Malbar teak and the Mumbai Country lasted for 
hundred years and weighed between five hundred and one 
thousand tones. The resisted water logging and damages from gun 
fire, which proved useful during the Napoleoric Wars. As a matter of 
fact, in 1736 the East India Company had invited Lowjee Wadia, a 
Parsi, skilled in shipbuilding to take change of building and 
repairing of ships in Mumbai. this Wadia family made a transition 
from shipbuilders to shipowners under Pestonjee Bomanjee, the 
grand son of Lowjee Wadia, who owned around six big ships 
wheras Banaji family owned as many as forty country ships. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
OPIUM TRADE IN MUMBAI 
 
 The cotton trade in Mumbai began to face slump since 1813 
and continued for a considerable period. In 1829, the journal, 
Canton Register, which represented British mercantile interests at 
Canton, Lamented that the long continued deplorable state of our 
cotton market produced a very sensible effects on the maritime 
commerce of Bombay. Despite the dismal voices in Mumbai cotton 
Page 5


 
 
18
2 
 
 
EMERGENCE AND GROWTH OF MUMBAI 
AS A PORT CITY- I 
 
c) Cotton and Opium Trade 
d) Modes of Transportation 
 
a) Cotton and Opium Trade 
 
Unit Structure: 
 
2.0 Objectives 
2.1 Introduction 
2.2 Cotton Trade in Mumbai 
2.3  Opium Trade in Mumbai 
2.4 Conclusion 
2.5 Questions 
 
 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
It is said that Mumbai rose to importance by its natural process 
of selection when other parts like Salsette, Sopara, Kalyan and 
Thane lost it one after another.  These were several reasons that 
the old parts fell into disuse as - 
 
1. There was a drastic development in the shipping and navigation 
techniques. 
2. The old parts were situated in narrow and shallow creeks. 
3. The old parts were vulnerable to storm and pirates. 
 
 
4. The old were mostly sifted and with the passage of time, there 
was a need of larger ships with deeper Waters.  When the 
sailors began to handle ships to larger dimensions, requiring 
greater anchorage and berthing facilities, Mumbai as a part 
satisfied almost all these demands of the resolutionised 
navigation, and rose to the place of old parts.  
 
  Due to the result of certain geological changes occurred, 
Mumbai destined many national advantages over the old parts in 
the changed circumstances. It has a commodious, natural and 
sheltered harbour, which covered the area around 120 square 
miles of sea surface and a depth of about of fathoms in the main 
road of navigation required for trade and commerce. 
 
 Mumbai enjoyed a favourable geographical position in 
comparison with the main land.  The ghat routes through that, Nana 
and Bhor pases made it possible to bring the ports of salsette into 
economic touch with the hinterland, which enabled the Ulhas basin 
the most to command its early commercial lead.  Naturally, Mumbai 
rose to prominence and prospered due to the several advantages 
rendered by these Ghat passes.  The English exploited all these 
advantages of Mumbai to develop it into a leading port and trade 
centre of the modern world.    
 
 In addition to this the British introduced better means of 
communition like building of roads and construction of railways, to 
establish access with all parts of India especially with rich hinter - 
lands of Gujarath, the Deccan Platean and Maharashtra itself.  This 
led to establish commercial contact and growth of economic 
interest make Mumbai the economic hub of the vast interior and 
prospered as capital city of Maharashtra and economic capital of 
India later. 
 
COTTON TRADE IN MUMBAI 
 
 The Portuguese possessed Mumbai in 1535 from the 
Gujarath Sultan for trade, where coconuts and coir were traded.  
The British who came to India later understood the important of 
Mumbai and tried to possess with the help of force but could 
succeed but when they controlled Mumbai, they began to trade 
Salt, rice, irony, cloth, lead and sward blades with internal area and 
outside of India.  The trade commodities want on increasing day 
after day, within the short span of time Indian handicrafts because 
popular in and outside of markets.  Indian cotton, silk and muslin 
became the export commodity to European Countries like England, 
Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany.  As a matter of fact, Indian 
cotton was popular since the ancient civilization because of fertile 
land and conducive environment in the country.  Areas like the 
 
 
Deccan, Punjab, Peshawar, Nagpur and Telangana produced must 
cotton. 
 
 The trade in cotton got boosted after the Industrial revolution 
began in England. The British Government introduced the 
commercialization of agriculture after the American civil was  broke 
out in 1860.  The British transported the row cotton to Mumbai and 
shifted it to England.  Thus Mumbai became the centre of cotton 
trade with various countries specially China and England.  Mumbai 
had trade relations with China.  Since 1723, the British imported 
Chinese tea to India as well as exported it to Europe.  During the 
last decade of the eighteenth century China suffered severe famine 
which forced her to cultivate food grain in place of cotton, this lad 
China to import Indian row cotton.  Although Cotton was grown 
plentiful in Central China but shipping cotton from central China to 
Guangdong and Fujian the Southern provinces was costly than 
shipping cotton from India to China.  This export of cotton 
enhanced after Surat lost its importance as trading part to Mumbai.  
The heyday of trade in raw cotton was between 1787 and 1805, the 
value of exported cotton was above between 1787 and 1805, the 
value of exported cotton was above one hundred and fifty lakh, 
average eighty thousand bales of cotton worth Rs.65 lakha was 
exported every year from Mumbai to China and the raw cotton 
exported to England was more than four times.  Although, the 
company had monopoly on cotton trade from Mumbai to England, 
the cotton trade in western Maharashtra and its shipping was in the 
private houses or agencies of Mumbai like Forbes Smith and Law, 
Alexander Adamson and Bruce Lawceft.  In order to encourage the 
cotton trade, the Government of Mumbai had reduced customs 
duties from six to two and half percent in 1795.  The merchants 
involved in cotton trade in Mumbai preferred consignment system in 
which they consigned their goods to agents or agency houses, both 
British and Indian, who in turn took full responsibility of managing 
trading operations overseas and returning profit to the consignors in 
exchange for commission.  This system encouraged the people 
who had no knowledge of cotton trade, unable to speak English or 
any foreign language and had no substantial capital to engage 
them in long distance trade in cotton. 
 
 In 1797, the Bombay courier said that cotton trade in 
Mumbai boosted the fortune of Mumbai as it determined the rhythm 
of life in the late eighteenth century and sound early decades of 
nineteenth century Mumbai, for which it gave some credit to the 
mercantile excellence of the Mumbai port.  The Bombay Courier 
further said that the cotton used to come to Mumbai in a faily dirty 
state, it was cleaned, shifted to the cotton screws situated near the 
docks to be tightly compressed into bales, loaded into huge ships 
and exported to either China or England any other country.  
Although the cotton trade in Mumbai profited the Bombay 
 
 
merchants it also faced problems like seasonal monsoon winds, 
sea typhoons and pirates.  It is clear from the latter dated 12
th
 June, 
1800 of Mumbai merchants to the Governor of Mumbai extending 
protection from them, who shifted their base to the straits of 
Malacca later.  This problem was also compounded during the 
Napoleonic wars in Europe.  The cotton trade of Mumbai also faced 
other problems in Chinese market like the entry of domestic cotton 
of China and the cotton exported by the East India Company from 
Bengal, which was the better quality and fetched higher price.  This 
led Mumbai cotton to drop in its export china and other parts of the 
industrialized world.  
 
 The export of raw cotton required the building of huge ships 
capable of carrying this bulky commodity in large quantity.  This 
trade gave a major boost to the ship building industry in Mumbai in 
which names like (1) Lowjee Waida, (2) Royal Chalotte, (3) Good, 
(4) Success, (5) Bannajis, (6) Ready moneys, (7) Camas, (8) 
Dadiseths, (9) Jamsethjee Jejeebhoy and (10) Dorabjee Rustomjee 
Patell - were prominent the ship building industry in Mumbai.  The 
ships built of  Malbar teak and the Mumbai Country lasted for 
hundred years and weighed between five hundred and one 
thousand tones. The resisted water logging and damages from gun 
fire, which proved useful during the Napoleoric Wars. As a matter of 
fact, in 1736 the East India Company had invited Lowjee Wadia, a 
Parsi, skilled in shipbuilding to take change of building and 
repairing of ships in Mumbai. this Wadia family made a transition 
from shipbuilders to shipowners under Pestonjee Bomanjee, the 
grand son of Lowjee Wadia, who owned around six big ships 
wheras Banaji family owned as many as forty country ships. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
OPIUM TRADE IN MUMBAI 
 
 The cotton trade in Mumbai began to face slump since 1813 
and continued for a considerable period. In 1829, the journal, 
Canton Register, which represented British mercantile interests at 
Canton, Lamented that the long continued deplorable state of our 
cotton market produced a very sensible effects on the maritime 
commerce of Bombay. Despite the dismal voices in Mumbai cotton 
 
 
exporting circles, raw cotton continued to be exported to China and 
England. This trade led to some Mumbai traders to loose heavily 
due to the slump in it, whereas other traders recouped and greatly 
augmented their fortunes in the trade of Bengal Opium, which was 
exported to China since the mid eighteenth century. After the import 
of opium into China was banned by the Emperor in 1796, the 
company stopped carrying opium in its own ships but continued it in 
the ships of other merchants, which earned her benefit on large 
scale then earlier. Naturally, the repeated imperial edits of China 
prohibiting the import of opium were conveniently ignored by the 
East India Company routinely.  
 
 Opium was grown at various places as Malwa, Bengal and 
Patna in British India. But the quality of Bengal opium was better, it 
commanded higher demand and created monopoly in the export 
trade of opium in Chinese market. The East India Company tried to 
encourage the cultivators in western India to cultivate opium as 
large scale to entrance the export from Mumbai but the company 
could not succeed because the cultivators and brokers in Western 
India resisted it strongly. The Company charged its policy, began to 
increase the production of Bengal opium and attempted them to 
bug, the Malwa opium in huge cantity. the company charged the 
punitive duties on the entire opium at Mumbai while exporting it to 
China. Although, this policy strengthened the position of Malwa 
opium in the Chinese market it also boosted Daman and Goa the 
Portuguese part to enter the opium trade to China, which the 
Mumbai Government to sustain a considerable loss in its revenue 
collection.  
 
 In 1831, the Mumbai Government changed it policy of 
charging punitive duty to the payment of a flat transit duty of Rs. 
175 per chest. This began ninety percent Malwa opium export 
through Mumbai once again and increased shipment of opium from 
Mumbai from 9,333 chests in 1831-32 to 47,007 chests in 1832-33. 
The opium export further jumped to 20,000 chests and remained 
average between 20,000 to 40,000 chests for several decades. 
There was a ten-fold increase in the export of opium through 
Mumbai from 1830 to 1860, which increased its share of the total 
exports from twenty five percent to forty two percent. 
 
 The growth of opium trade in Mumbai was greatly 
responsible for the rise of Mumbai to the status higher than 
Calcutta and the eminent business centre of British India. the 
export of opium also made Mumbai one of the best ports in India, 
which was a second rate port to Calcutta earlier. Mumbai became a 
network connecting the multitude of cultivators, opium brokers, 
speculators, shippers and the commission agents or the agency 
houses in and around Mumbai and Calcutta. There were many 
powerful opium shippers in Mumbai, among them Jamsetjee