Hyderabad: The Social Context of Industrialisation, 1875-1948

The book is an economic history of the Indian princely state of Hyderabad through the late colonial era up to 1948. The study brings to life a region and its people, and while doing so, it grapples with the social paradigms and their bearing on the region under discussion. Recognising the colonial linkages and the structure of feudal relations, the work delineates the region’s virtual imperviousness to change. Subbarao argues that industrial and economic development was constrained by the sociopolitical system that supported and sponsored it. The industrial evolution is delineated over three distinct phases: the first phase between 1875 to 1919 when infrastructure facilities were set up, the second phase between 1919 to 1939 when the state’s efforts provided the institutional and financial support for industry, and the third phase, 1939 to 1948, saw initiatives not only to bring about structural change in the industrial sector, but also to introduce the idea of planned economic development.