This chapter is contributed by Shri K. K. Chaudhari, M.A., Executive Editor and Secretary, Gazetteers Department

SECTION I - ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
THE PROLOGUE

BOMBAY HAS BECOME A VERY LARGE URBAN COMPLEX strung out along a seaboard, in a manner such that jurisdictional integration, though not impossible, has become quite difficult. Not only it is heavily settled throughout its length and breadth, but the nature of the terrain precludes smooth communication, excepting along the axis. Economists in Western countries would describe such a urban complex by using the word 'megalopolis' which means a wide-spreading and thickly-populated urban area. It would however be more in the fitness of things to use the more common term ' Metropolitan Area' for Greater Bombay.

In introspection it would appear that this most advanced and most rich city of India is faced with severe troubles, and it is really difficult to get to grips with the socio-economic or even with the sheer physical problems of this metropolitan area. Roads and streets laid down in the past few decades are just insufficient to meet the needs of modern traffic, and a day is not far off when even pedestrian traffic would become extremely difficult. Housing in Bombay is fantastically inadequate to accommodate the flow of immigrants and the growth of the indigenous ( By indigenous population is ment local population for the purpose of our analysis.) population. The multiplication of slums and shanties, as also the increase in houseless population is therefore the natural outcome. The resulting congestion has breeded physical and psychological strains and disturbances, as also serious health hazards to the lakhs of citizens. Besides the already over-grown and growing population of the city proper, there is an additional problem arising from the army of commuters, who daily surge into the city for work, but live outside its jurisdiction. Thousands and lakhs of persons from surrounding towns such as Thane, Mumbra, Dombivli, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar, Ambarnath, Badlapur, Neral, Karjat, Titawala, Asangaon, Kasara, Vasai, Bhayander, Sopara, Virar and many others throng Bombay city for attending their work. These factors put a heavy strain on the transport system in the city. Inevitably, the civic services in the city are deteriorating. Law and order, though maintained by an efficient administration and adhered by peaceful citizens, cannot be taken for granted. To put it more precisely, this ' core' city of India is slowly submerging in a mass of unplanned and inappropriate sprawl.

Though the fundamental problems of Bombay are quite similar to those of other Indian big cities, this metropolis is unique in its combination of economic, social, locational and climatic characteristics. The basis of the troubles of the city, one way or another, is the population explosion. During the seventy years from 1901 to 1971, the population of the city increased from 9,27,994 to 59,70,575 i.e., by about 543.39 per cent, or on an average at the rate of about 7.76 per cent per annum. While the population increased by 200 per cent, or on an average at the rate of 4 per cent per annum from 1901 to 1951, even the decadal growth was as high as 43.80 per cent from 1961 to 1971. Population of the city increased at a galloping speed to 8.24 millions in 1981.

The immigrants in Bombay are broadly of two kinds. Firstly, there are persons who are deliberately seeking employment and better wages than they could get in the countryside or in small towns. Such immigrants fully realise that it may be sometime before they get a satisfactory full-time job and in the meantime they will take any odd opportunities that offer. In such cases migration is a calculated risk which brings some results. " Thus in Bombay unemployment is found to be lower among the immigrants than among the indigenous population (if they can be so designated, when most of the families will probably have come from elsewhere). The net reproduction rate of the immigrants is also lower; but this may be partly the result of their transitional situation. In Calcutta by contrast, there are few immigrants and population growth is almost wholly due to the indigenous families. One is tempted to conclude that in Calcutta the calculated risks are too high to be attractive. The second and more traditional type of Indian City immigranls are those who drift in from the country without a definite aim, or even much hope of employ­ment. They come because they hope that urban conditions will somewhat be better; they can hardly be worse for the landless peasant than village life. These hopes can very easily be frustrated."( Ursula K. Hicks, The Large City —A World Problem, pp. 15-16.)

" The special significance of these population movements lies in the way in which they give rise to congestion of people, of houses, of street circulation. And to congestion can be traced, directly or indirectly, most of the troubles of the cities: pollution of various sorts, inadequate housing, serious health hazards, unruly populations and heavy unemployment, especially of young persons. These troubles are present in different degrees in practically all countries. It is this circumstance which gives a unity, to the quest for the diagnosis and cure of the large cities. It is indeed a world problem."( Ibid., p. 16.)

"Bombay received about 1,22,000 immigrants a year. Even with a fairly good rate of industrialisation this is clearly too high a number to be digested without adding to unemployment and shanty settlements and all that these imply is congestion, pollution, health hazards, crime and unrest." (Ursula K. Hicks, op. cit.)

In addition to the large number of regular commuters, Bombay has a problem of ' contact population', those persons who visit the city from time to time for particular purposes, such as professional services, cultural opportunities or entertainment. This also contributes to congestion and strain on civic services.

The problems regarding immigrant population are more complicated by disparities between the sexes, as males exceed females to a great extent. " In Bombay city of the intercensus total immigration the proportion of male immigrants was almost double that of females. This sex disparity brings with it a number of difficult social problems. It may have a variety of causes. In India many men leave their wives and families behind in their villages, but keep in close touch with them." (Ibid.)

Another aspect of immigration in Bombay is the type and intention of the immigrants. " For instance, Kerala is increasingly losing population to Bombay rather than to the neighbouring States of Mysore and Tamil Nadu. On the other hand, a certain (and increasing) proportion of the urban immigrants apparently do not drift vaguely into the cities, but attempt some crude but rational calculations of the profitability of getting a good job in two or three years. In the meantime they are prepared to wait, picking up what odd jobs they can and perhaps having some small savings to help eke out over the short period. They reckon that, discounting the future income stream down to the present, benefits are likely to exceed costs. This would conform to Latin American patterns, where, however, incomes are in general larger and living standards higher. It is interesting that in Bombay in recent years the immigrants have experienced a lower unemployment rate..... than the initial inhabitants."( Ibid.)

Immigration to Bombay is largely on economic grounds. There are better avenues of employment on account of growth of industrialisation, development of trade and commerce and of the tertiary sector. A patent cause of immigration is also the availability of better educational facilities than in the countryside. Typically immigration is the major cause of population growth. Thus of the addition to the population of Bombay between 1951 and 1961 to the extent of 12,07,000 as many as 5,22,000 were immigrants.

The growth of Bombay as an entrepot centre of trade and commerce, and as an industrial city has created enormous problems of transportand traffic. In fact transport bottlenecks and pressure on street capacity pose a major problem for the authorities, the solution for which is not in easy accession. The problem is partly due to the extreme heterogeneous nature of the transport and the large number of erratic and slow moving vehicles. In addition to cars, buses and delivery vans, many bicycles, bullock carts, tongas and hand-carts cling to the centre of main arteries. Traffic may have to deviate to allow a cow to take its ease in the middle of the street. Millions of pedestrians throng the streets largely because they have particularly nowhere to go. The amount of pollution produced per motor vehicle in Bombay tends to be higher because many of the cars and trucks are extremely old or of obsolete design as compared to those in western countries.

The problems of transport as well as infrastructure are embarrassingly dynamic in the sense that the conditions accompanying them are conti­nually changing. For instance, the volume and flow of traffic, develop­ment of public utilities, such as water, severage and power which are related to the streets, and the expansion and decay in certain quarters of the city, are to be dealt with every now and then. Road widening or reorganisation of streets or even of traffic islands pose a continuous challenge, as the street pattern of the city is determined by its topography and physical structure. The traffic problems of Bombay are broadly of two kinds : (i) those concerned with the provisions of the streets them­selves and (ii) those concerned with the street users. All these problems are formidable and very difficult for solution. With every year that passes the congestion, delay, pollution and accident rate get worse.

The street system of the city, which by itself is not bad, was originally intended to meet the demands and requirements of an earlier age. A majority of the roads were laid out a century ago or even earlier. The city however grew enormously both in size and complexity during the subsequent period. The peculiar ecological structure and the physical aspect of the city have also added to the traffic problem. The main office and commercial centre, or the core of city, which employs the vast majority of workers in tertiary and secondary sectors, is located in the extreme south- But the most important residential area is situated in the north. This distance between the residence and work-place has resulted in the daily movement of population from north to south in the mornings and from south to north in the evenings. The semi-directional flow of traffic which is on account of the existing ecological structure is one of the basic causes of the transport problem of Bombay.

A very high proportion of commuters in Bombay travel by suburban railway. In fact suburban trains are the principal means of transport which are followed by bus services provided by the Bombay Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking. The proportion of cars to population is one car to 91 persons in Bombay, while the proportion for India as a whole is one car for 1130 persons.(Information from World Bank Report)

The sense of overcrowding in Bombay is enhanced by its geographical situation, which was once so suitable for a fortified anchorage but now severely restricting expansion in all but one direction—further on to the mainland and further away from the focal point of the city. Lakhs of commuters travel to work each day along the choked arteries of the linear city. The development of the focal point of the city, the Fort area, for offices, hotels, dnd luxury apartments continues, with sky-scrapers and land reclamation. The reclamation of land on the southern and western edges of the city is further overloading the transport network and civic services. The encroachment and further encroachment on sea for finding land for human habitation and office accommodation is putting an increasing strain on the transport system, water supply, electricity supply and many incidental services.

It has therefore become inevitable to disperse industries and housing to the mainland beyond the limits of Greater Bombay. A lot of exercise in dispersal of economic activity and in regional planning is being done since the end of the sixties, at government and municipal levels in the city. Accordingly a Metropolitan Regional Development Plan for the region has been formulated. It is hoped that the construction of a new port and the establishment of the twin city across the bay in accordance with the plan referred to above will set as a counterfocus to ease the congestion in the mother city. A detailed consideration of the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Development Plan will be done later on in this chapter.

Bombay is a premier port on the Western sea board and is the commercial capital of India. It is the most advanced industrial centre not only of Maharashtra but also of India. It has been a leading centre of the cotton-mill industry for a century and quarter, and has provided a congenial home for engineering and chemical industries during the last few decades. A number of modern and technologically advanced industries have been established in Bombay after the fifties. Besides manufacturing, it retains the functions which brought it in existence as an administrative communications and trading centre serving Western India. The registered offices of a number of private sector and public sector corporations and industries are housed in the city, and it has almost become the nerve centre of the Indian economy. It has been the ' Gateway of India' for Europe, America and Africa.

The strategic location of this metropolis, the agglomeration economies available herein and other locational advantages offered by it have had an effect on its economic growth.

The economies of agglomeration in Bombay have contributed to the concentration of industries and commerce in the city. Entrepreneurs often find it cheaper to locate new investments in this developed centre or on its outskirts than in new centres. Bombay provides the essential infrastructure for industries and commerce. It is a natural harbour, and as said above, is the ' Gateway of India' to Europe, America and Africa. The magnificent and capacious harbour has not been sensibly injured for the last about 275 years, either by the forces of nature or by the hand of man, while it has been explored and defined with greatest accuracy. The bunders and places for the loading and storage of merchandise are extending, and there is little danger of the anchorage being impaired. Naturally hundreds of thousands of tons of merchandise is imported and exported from Bombay. It is advantageously situated as regards railway communication. The Central Railway and the Western Railway both emanating from here have connected Bombay with the rest of the country. These two trunk routes radiating in various directions across the continent of India have also played an important role in the development of Bombay.

Bombay owes its economic growth to a class of enterprising entrepreneurs which included, besides Maharashtrians, Bhatias, Jains, Marwadis, Banias, Parsis, Europeans, Bohoras and Khojas. Though many of them were migrants from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnatak, they raised the initial capital by thrift, money-lending and selling their belongings in their native places. They gradually grew in their financial strength, and invested in industries and trade. As things appear at present a number of business houses have either monopolistic or oligopolistic control over certain industries. Such business houses and groups have a nation-wide reputation for controlling organised industries not only in Bombay but also in various parts of the country. Besides, a new entrepreneurial class comprising Maharashtrians and some others has come into existence/This class has also contributed to the growth of Industries and Commerce in Bombay.

In addition to the indigenous entrepreneurs, a number of foreign concerns many of which conform to the description as ' multi-nationals' have also contributed to the economic growth of Bombay. Most of the foreign concerns owned the industrial concerns which they established on their own, in the past. They hardly allowed any indigenous interests in their business and were quite exclusive. In keeping with the industrial policy of the Government of India the exclusive interest of the foreign companies has been curtailed either by compelling them to allow Indian participation in share capital and management or by their nationalisation. Hence, we now find a number of companies which are run with foreign collaboration. In many cases the collaboration is financial and techno­logical but in some it is mainly technological. Such companies have contributed immensely to the growth of the Bombay industries,   in particular and of the economy in general.

Besides the harbour and a centre of railways, Bombay is an international airport affording air services to almost all parts of the world. It is also connected by air to all the major cities in the country and a number of national and State highways emanating from the city connect it with almost the entire country. There is also a modern telecommunica­tion service from Bombay to all parts of the country, and an overseas communication service to major cities in the world. All these infrastructure facilities have encouraged localization of industries at Bombay.

The other factors contributing to the concentration of industries and commerce include the growth of banking institutions, a developed money market, the best of educational and medical facilities, a peaceful labour force and an efficient administration at the Government and municipal levels. Besides banks, a number of investment trusts and agencies mobilise funds for lending to small-scale industries. Bombay is also a home of technocrats, qualified technicians and skilled labour, and there is no derth of such personnel to industries. Besides being a centre of industries and commerce, it is a centre of educational and cultural activities which are unique and unparalleled in the whole of India. These factors are quite favourable to the expansion of industries in Bombay.

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GROWTH OF BOMBAY

Just about the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the Island of Bombay was emerging from the position of a mere trade settlement into that of the Gateway and Capital of Western India. The trade of the port showed a steady rise. The construction of the Sion Causeway which connected the Island with Salsette gave a further impetus to trade. Naturally, the trading communities migrated to the Island in larger numbers during these years. The Dassa Oswal Jains, particularly from Cutch came in increasing number in pursuit of prospective trade, and generally laid the foundations of one of the most prosperous of our modern commercial classes. The Parsis also equally contributed to the growth of Bombay. Persons like Jamshetji Wadia used to build first class frigates for the Indian Marine and stout vessels for such friendly powers as the Imam of Muscat. (S. M. Edwardes (ed.), Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island, Vol. Ill, pp. 272-73,1909)

The abolition, in 1813, of the East India Company's monopoly for trade in India gave a decided encouragement to the commerce of the Island. To quote only one item, the export trade in raw cotton increased from 30 million lbs. in 1809 to 90 million lbs. in 1816.

The construction of a good carriage road up the Bhor Ghat during the regimes of Mountstuart Elphinstone and Sir John Malcolm, opened the Bombay Island to the Deccan. This Ghat, opened on 10th November 1830, facilitated the trade of Bombay in a large measure.

Another landmark in the growth of Bombay was the construction of the Golaba Causeway in 1838.(S. M. Edwardes (ed.), Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island, Vol. II, p. 143.) The causeway initiated a growth of the areas around it as also that of the Fort area as it joined the Colaba and the Old Woman's Island to the Island of Bombay.

The period between 1860 and 1865 was one of accelerated growth in every branch of economic activity.

The commencement of the first railway line in India from Bombay to Thane on April 16, 1853 and the opening of the Bombay-Baroda and Central India Railway from Bombay in 1864 were the most important landmarks in the development of Bombay. The opening of the Bhor Ghat railway line on 22nd April 1863 facilitated the growth of trade and industry in Bombay. The value of railway in fostering the growth of Bombay has well neigh been incalculable.

While the regular service of coasting steamers from Bombay to other ports of India increased the trade of this city, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 effected a complete revolution in the carrying trade of Bombay, which had upto that date been restricted by a lengthy voyage round the Cape. Bombay thus became the imperial port of India conveying British mails and goods. It is interesting to note that, in order to improve communication between Bombay and the rest of the world, a direct submarine cable was laid down from Suez to Bombay in 1870, in connection with the cable from Falmouth to Gibraltar.(Ibid., p. 163.)

Another fundamental cause of the growth of Bombay was the enormous increase of the cotton-trade and the subsequent Share Mania of the years 1861-65. The outbreak of the Civil War in America (1861-65) which at once cut off the supply of American staples, is calculated by Mr. Maclean to have given to Bombay roughly 81 millions sterling in five years over and above what she had in former years as a fair price for her cotton.( Maclean's Guide to Bombay.) "The produce of all the great cotton fields in India, Nagpur, Berar, Gujarat and the Southern Maratha Country found its way to Bombay in order to be exported to England with all possible despatch, while the high prices ruled and the blockade of the South American ports lasted. So sudden was the demand, so high the range of price, so vast the profits, that an economic disturbance set in. Money seemed to lose its purchasing power, the prices of almost all articles rose simultaneously the wages of labour were enhanced in proportion."( Sir Richard Temple, Men and Events of My Time in India, 1882.)

Accumulation of money in the hands of certain classes led to speculation. Adventurers from distant places were attracted to Bombay and all sorts of ingenious schemes were devised for putting the newly acquired wealth to use. The Stock Exchange had a brisk business. In 1863, Bombay shipping companies were started which snatched away business from English ship-owners. Speculation knew no bounds. The Back Bay Recla­mation project attracted money in volumes. The value of land had been trebled and quadrupled in Bombay, the population was daily increasing in numbers, and the available space within the island was very little. The Back Bay Company's transactions had proved too great a temptation for the merchants of Bombay.

The cessation of the American War in 1865 however brought conditions of a heavy slump in the commerce of Bombay. The fall in cotton was followed by a depreciation in land prices which brought down shares from 500 or 600 per cent premium to a discount. By the end of 1866 every one of the financial associations had failed and gone into liquidation; all banks, with the exception of those having their headquarters out of Bombay, had also gone out of existence. The Bank of Bombay which had also collapsed in 1866, was however restructured afterwards in 1868.

The Share Mania by good fortune did no permanent injury to the trade of Bombay; while it, at the same time, was responsible for improvements which might reasonably have taken many years to introduce. Handsome works were carried out on either side of the Apollo Bandar, extending south-westwards almost to Colaba Church and stretching from the Custom House to Sewri along Mody Bay and the Elphinstone, Mazagaon, Tank Bandar and Frere reclamations—a distance of at least five miles. On the other side of the island was the great Back Bay reclamation from Colaba to the foot of Malabar Hill, whereon was constructed a good road. The area thus reclaimed amounted to more than 4,000,000 square yards, and resulted by 1872 in an increase of the area of the whole island from 18 to 22 square miles. Simultaneously there was a lot of progress in construction and widening of roads, the chief among them being the widening and rebuilding of the Colaba Causeway in 1861-63, the commencement of the Esplanade, Rampart Row and Hornby Roads, the widening of Cruickshank Road (now known as Mahapalika Road) and Carnac Road (Tilak Road) in 1865 and 1866, and the completion of the Carnac, Masjid and Elphinstone overbridges in 1867.(S. M. Edwardes, Rise of Bombay—A Retrospect, 1902 )

More striking than new reclamations and communications were the great buildings and architectural adornments of the city which were projected and commenced during Sir Bartle Frere's tenure of office. The embellishment of Bombay was carried out by both Government and private citizens, both equally actuated by the spirit of the age, which demanded that some part of the newly acquired wealth should be allocated to the permanent advantage of the city. The birth of Bombay as a popu­lous and beautiful city is ascribable to the joint labours of Government, the Municipality, private firms and public-spirited citizens.

The first mill in Bombay was projected in 1851 by Mr. C. Nanabhai Davar and commenced work in 1854 as a joint-stock company under the name of the Bombay Spinning and Weaving Company. In 1870, there were 10 mills on the island, in 1875 when the Millowners' Association was first established there were 27; in 1880,32; andin 1890, 70 mills. The opening of each mill augmented the number of industrial workers, so that the census of 1881 recorded 8.4 per cent of the total labouring population as mill-workers.

The formation of the Bombay Port Trust in 1873 was an important landmark in the economic history of Bombay. The Prince's Dock, the first stone of which was laid by the Prince of Wales in 1875, was opened on the 1st January 1880. The Victoria Dock was completed in 1888. Tramway communication was instituted between 1872 and 1877, and by 1880 it had reached from Fort to Girgaum, Byculla and Grant Road.

About the commercial prosperity of Bombay, Lord Reay said as follows in 1887: " The prosperity of Bombay is one of the most remarkable events of the Victoiian reign..... It is one of the most beautiful towns of the Empire, if not of the world. Its sanitary condition is also vastly improved. Fifty years ago the exports amounted to nearly 60 millions of rupees and the imports to little more than 47. In 1885-86 the exports amounted to more than 419 millions and the imports to nearly 440 millions. In 1885-86 the value of cotton exported amounted to more than 84 millions of rupees, of pulse and grain to more than 43 millions. The municipal income has risen from 18 to 42 lakhs. The Prince's Dock would do credit to any port in the world."

The growth of the mill-industry during 1880-1895 led to development of the northern areas of the island. There was a considerable increase in industrial employment. The disastrous plague epidemic of 1897-99 brought tremendous decline in economic activity as thousands of persons fled away from Bombay. In 1899, the cotton mill industry was at-its worst, and all the mills were closed for three days in a week while some of them were wholly idle. The 20th century however witnessed a reversion of this order of things, and cotton trade improved greatly. The Swadeshi movement launched by nationalist leaders had a great impact on the textile industry. This movement led to increase in demand for cloth manufactured by Indian mills as against imported cloth.

The establishment of the City Improvement Trust during the regime of Lord Sandhurst in 1898 did a great deal towards the improvement and development of Bombay city. It was modelled after the pattern of the Glasgow City Improvement Trust.

The trust was charged with development functions such as, (i) laying of new roads, (ii) improving crowded localities, (iii) reclaiming further lands, (iv) construction of dwellings for the poor and (v) provision of accommodation for the police. The Trust undertook several schemes for improvement of congested areas. A number of road works, including widening of old streets and construction of thorough-fares were taken up. A few among the important roads constructed by the Trust were: Hughes Road, Sandhurst Road, Princess Street, Frere Road and Lamington Road. These thorough-fares opened up many new localities in the city for residential and industrial accommodation. The work of the Trust as regards building construction was quite commendable. It also did a lot for clearance of congested areas and land reclamation. The trade depression and the slump in industries that followed after 1922 restricted the activities of the Trust. The demand for building sites was reduced, and hence, proposals for further reclamation of Back Bay and Walkeshwar were withheld.

The financial strain led to the dissolution of the Improvement Trust on 31st March 1926, and the bulk of the work was entrusted to the Bombay Municipal Corporation. It was finally amalgamated with the Municipal Corporation by the Act of 1933.

The Mahim Development scheme was effectively implemented. Under this scheme Gokhale Road, Lady Jamshedji Road, Dadar-Matunga Station Road and many other roads in the area were developed. Naturally, the entire area between Dadar and Mahim came under the development fold. The Shivaji Park was laid out in 1929. The Municipal Corporation was faced with financial difficulties and strains during the Second World War. The Government therefore empowered the Corporation to postpone the execution of development work till the end of the War.

To plan the Post-War Development, Government appointed a Committee presided over by the Adviser to the Governor. The Committee recommended, among many other measures, the expansion of the territorial limits of Bombay for dispersal of the development of Bombay, and preparation of a Master Plan. The outline of Master Plan which was prepared in 1947 (approved in 1948) was really not a complete Master Plan but a preliminary guide for further development of the city, suburbs and satellite towns.

The growth of Bombay gathered further momentum after 1950. There was unprecedented development of industries and commerce. Since there was no space available to new industries they hurried to establish themselves in the suburbs. The accelerated rate of growth created un­foreseen problems due to heavy concentration of industries. The territorial limits of the city were expanded in February 1957 (The present area of Greater Bombay after the expansion in February 1957 is 603 sq. km. as per the Surveyor General of India.) upto Dahisar on the Western Railway and   upto Mulund on the Central Railway and the whole city agglomeration came to be known as Greater Bombay.

There was an increasing demand from the enlightened citizens that the development of this most important city of India must be properly planned in order to save it from haphazard growth. The Bombay Muni­cipal Corporation therefore prepared a Development Plan for Greater Bombay in 1964. It was followed by the Gadgil Committee's Plan and the Regional Plan for the Bombay Metropolitan Region prepared by the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Planning Board. These plans are dealt with separately in this chapter.

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THE ECONOMY OF BOMBAY

The economy of Bombay can be properly undeistood by making a rough and broad distinction between its organized and unorganised sectors. The organized sector is conceived to include large manufacturing firms in the private sector and the employment in Union Government, State Government, Municipal Corporation, Banks, Railways, Bombay Port Trust, Life Insurance Corporation of India and other quasi-Government activities which together form the public sector. The un­organized sector is conceived to include a very large number of producers who employ monthly paid or casual labour; it also includes a substantial amount of household employment and self-employment and cultivators as also agricultural labourers. A salient feature of the organized sector is its relatively organized work-force which is covered by labour legislation and trade union protection.

The criterion for the distinction is made further precise by accepting the employment criterion set by the Directorate of Employment and Training, Bombay. Since the Directorate of Employment collects data for the organized sector, defined as all public sector establishments and all privately owned establishments with more than 25 employees, this is certainly a dividing line and it has been used below for our purpose.

The Statement No. 1 shows the composition and growth of the organised sector employment from 1951 to 1971. It is evident that the organized sector provided employment to about half the work-force in Bombay in 1961 and that this proportion showed no sign of rising over the period of 20 years. The overwhelming majority of other workers were in the unorganized sector, employers being small in number. As regards the composition of the work-force in the organized sector, it is seen that a substantial but diminishing majority was found in the private sector. Of these, more than 80 per cent were employed in factories while the rest were employed mainly in offices. The size of the organized sectot was of the same order or magnitude as that of the unionized labour force in 1961. Registered trade unions claimed a membership of. 7,03,542 in 1961 in Bombay.( L. K. Deshpande, Evolution of the Wage Structure in Bombay   City, 1950-60, (Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Bombay University, 1964))

The Statement No. 2 gives the distribution of the work-force residing in Bombay into employers, organized workers and unorganized workers. It may be noted that the statistics are rough estimates based on data from the 1961 Census and the Directorate of Employment and Training.

Manufacturing accounted for about half the organized employees, of which a furthei three-fifths were engaged in the textile industry. The sub­divisions in manufacturing other than textiles were distributed almost equally among the organized and unorganized sectors. As it is most natural, organized workers in transport and communication services were principally in the public sector and covered the employees in the B.E.S.T., railways, docks, shipping, postal services and telecommunications. The organized workers were mainly in government administration, education and medical services which were largely in the public sector. In private sector they were engaged in various professional and business enterprises and in larger hotels and catering concerns. Domestic servants who were not at all organized constituted about half the unorganized sector.

UNORGANIZED SECTOR OF EMPLOYMENT IN BOMBAY, 1961

About half the employment in the unorganized sector was that of self-employed persons and those engaged in household industry. Of the 4,45,000 wage employees, about 1,00,000 were employed as household servants and cooks, and the rest of them, viz., 3,45,000 were employed in very small establishments, employing on an average of about four workers each. This is evident from the fact that there were 96,000 ' employers' according to the Census who are defined as persons at work who regularly hired other workers to assist in that work; on the other hand there were only 2,325 private establishments in the organized sector, according to the Directorate of Employment, and it can be assu­med that these establishments accounted for approximately one employer each. Thus there were about 93,500 employers in the unorganized sector employing 3,45,000 workers, about four employees per employer.

The Statement No. 2 shows that the ratio of employees to employers in retail trade was less than two. Manufacturing units in the unorganized sector, small as they were, had an average of four employees to one employer. There were 27,500 employers in manufacturing as a whole. Of them, 1,400  were  organized  sector   factory  owners  and   about 2,500 small registered factories employing 10 to 25 workers each and employing a total of about 50,000 workers. This left about 23,500 employers employing about 72,000 employees, i.e. about three employees per employer.

STATEMENT No. 1

Employment in Organized Sector in Greater Bombay, 1951-71

(D. T. Lakdawala and Others, Work, Wages and Well-being in an Indian Metropolis, Economic Survey of Bombay City, 1963. Directorate" of Employment, Bombay, Quarterly Returns, 1961,1966 and 1971, cf, Heather and Vijay Joshi, Surplus Labour and the City, 1976.)

(Figures in thousands)

Notes,—(a) Figures for Shops and Establishments given in the source are not used here as they appeared to cover many small establishments and family workers.
(b)Based on a very rough estimate of missing categories of organized workers.
(c)Note changes in Census definition of workers. The 1951 statistics are roughly comparable with those for 1961. They include secondary earners and all principal earners except those with unproductive sources of income. The 1971 definition is more restrictive.
(d)Reduction due to nationalization of banks in 1969.

STATEMENT No. 2
Estimated Employment in the Organized and Unorganized Sectors
by Major Industry Divisions and Selected Industries,
Greater Bombay, 1961
(Figures in thousands)

Notes—
Col. 1—Employees in the public sector and private sector establishments employing more than 25,
including identifiable military personnel and excluding identifiable non-residents.

Col. 2—Col. 3 + Col: 4.
Col. 3—Difference between ' Employees in Non-Household Industry ' given by the Census and Col. 1.
Col. 4—Single workers, family workers,  workers in household industry, cultivators and Agricultural
Labourers as reported in the Census.
Col. 5—Employers as reported by the Census.
Col. 6—Total workers reported by the Census, sum of Cols. 1, 2 and 5.
Sources.—(1) Census of India, 1961, Vol. X, Part X (1-B), Greater Bombay Census Tables: Primary Census Abstract, and Table B, IV, Parts A, B and C. (2) Directorate of Employment, Bombay.

Domestic servants, other services, medicine and education which constituted services accounted for about 30 per cent of the unorganized work-force or 2,26,500 workers. The rest of the workers under services constituted dhobis (13,000), workers in small hotels and catering houses (50,000), casual labour in film industry and film extras, priests, astrologers, shoeshiners,, masseurs, private tutors, self-appointed car-attendants, snake-charmers, street-dancers and acrobats.

The unorganized sector included 2,00,000 workers in trade and commerce, and they were about four times the number of organized workers. The majority of them were small shopkeepers and hawkers either self-employed or employees.

The majority of the workers in the unorganized sector of manufacturing were employees (1,22,000), but the number of those working on their own account was quite substantial viz. 42,600. Workers in household industry were 22,900 and family workers 6,600. They work in small establishments, but they are of considerable economic importance. Textile units in the unorganized sector covered more than 27,000 workers.

Garment-making is largely an unorganized activity carried by tailors working in small shops, and they numbered about 20,000. A majority of them were not employees but were self-employed persons, similar being the case with bidi makers. The workers in petroleum and rubber products were engaged mainly in retreading tyres and making of rubber goods; those in chemical establishments mainly produced soap, matches and common salt, while those in the non-metallic products sub-division produced build­ing material, pottery and miscellaneous glass products. The metals and engineering sub-division which is by and large ancillary to large scale industry accounted for 41,000 workers, 75 per cent of whom were employees. The miscellaneous sub-division accounted for about 35,000 workers engaged in making wood products, leather goods, jewellery, watch repair and stationery articles.

" Two salient features of the unorganized work-force in manufacturing may be noted. First, it is clear that the ratio of non-wage labour to wage employees is higher in the more traditional industries such as tobacco, textiles, leather and food-preparations; in the more modern industries, the mode of production favours hired labour. Second, the unorganized sector is not entirely composed of extremely unskilled people. There is a very wide range of skills present and there is reason to believe that the low incomes earned are the result of lack of resources rather than of skill, effort or enterprise."( Heather and Vijay Joshi, Surplus Labour and the City, A Study of Bombay (Oxford University Press, 1976),)

Workers in transport and communications including lorry-drivers and cleaners, taxi-drivers, scooter-rikshaw drivers, mathadi workers, coolies, porters, tiffin carriers, etc., were estimated at 85,000, about half of whom were wage employees. Construction and utilities accounted for 14,000.; and primary industries for 30,000 of whom about 8,000 were fishermen.

GROWTH OF THE ORGANIZED SECTOR, 1961-71

The following statement shows the growth of population and employment in Greater Bombay from 1961 to 1971( Census of India, 1961 and 1971 and Directorate of Employment, cf. Heather and Vijay Joshi, op, cit.) :—

STATEMENT No. 3
(Figures in '000 except percentages)

* The criterion used by the Census to identify workers was altered in 1971 to become most conservative. The decadal change observed is an under-statement of employ­ment growth on consistent definitions.

It can be observed from Statement No. 1 that employment in the organized sector as a proportion of Bombay's total work-force did not increase between 1951 and 1971. However the statistics for 1951 are rather uncertain and not suitable for detailed comparison, unlike those for 1961 and 1971. Organized employment did grow fairly steadily in the first half of the sixties. However conditions of economic recession and stagnation adversely affected employment in private sector industries. Recession and stagnation were arrested by the end of the sixties, but the increase in employment in the organized sector over the decade as a whole was only 26 per cent. During the same period the change in the total numbers at work must have been at least as great as the 30 per cent difference between the two Census counts of workers. The increase in the labour force during the decade was estimated at 34 per cent. Thus,not only had the number of workers outside the organized sector in the city remained substantial, but also they increased in terms of number and as a proportion of labour force. While the population of the city increased by nearly 20 lakhs and the total labour force by about 6 lakhs, the additional number of jobs increased by only 2.5 lakhs, in the organized sector. It means that the rest of the 3.5 lakhs additional workers found a means of livelihood either in the unorganized sector of the economy in Bombay or in the expanding industrial zone in the adjacent areas, or they were unemployed.( Heather and Vijay Joshi,Surplus Labour and the city)

It may be explained here that growth of employment in Bombay was adversely affected by a number of factors. Firstly, there was a recession in the economy in general and industries in particular. The cotton textile industry which is by far the biggest industry in Bombay was faced by market glut and a heavy reduction in production. A number of textile mills were closed, while many others were working at under-capacity. Though the demand recession was almost nation-wide, its effects were felt very acutely in the employment situation in Bombay. Secondly, government policy of discouraging further growth of industries in Bombay city and of decentralization of industries out of Bombay also affected the employment opportunities in Bombay proper. As a result, many new industries found a congenial home on the outskirts of the city, while a number of old factories in Bombay found it convenient to shift to the Thane area which offered better facilities for expansion of factory sites, etc.

As the new areas on the outskirts of Bombay, but within the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Development area, offered better incentives and better avenues, further growth of industries was diverted out of Bombay. During all these years industrial expansion was diverted to Thane, Belapur, Kalwa, Dombivli, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar, Ambarnath, Shahad, Ambivli, etc. To sum up, Bombay city lost, to some extent, its share of the further growth of industries and employment to the industrial complex in Thane region. The metropolitan economy expanded rapidly, not in the city, but in the adjacent areas in the Bombay Metropolitan Region.

It is seen from statistics that while there were only 32,000 new jobs in the organized sector in Bombay from 1966 to 1970, an addition of about 3 per cent over four years, Thane area gained 45,000 new jobs which meant an increase of over 45 per cent. Of the new jobs, manu­facturing industries accounted for 20,000 in Bombay and 40,000 in Thane. In Bombay and Thane taken together, factory employment grew faster than that in the rest of the organized sector in the second half of the decade as also in the entire decade.

CHANGE IN ORGANIZED SECTOR EMPLOYMENT IN BOMBAY, 1961-1971

The changing composition of the organized sector employment in Greater Bombay is furnished in the following statement:—

STATEMENT No. 4
DECADE CHANGE IN ORGANIZED SECTOR EMPLOYMENT, BY INDUSTRY AND SECTORS IN GREATER BOMBAY, 1961 TO 1971

Note.—No attempt has been made to adjust these figures for non-Residents or military personnel, hence 1961 figures are not identical with those in State­ment No. 2. Cols. 3 and 4 calculated on the basis of unrounded figures.
Source.—Directorate of Employment, Bombay, Quarterly Employment Returns, and The Bombay Labour Market, 1966.

Some of the salient features of the changes in employment situation in Bombay are given below:—

(1) Recession in Cotton Mill Employment : Cotton mills by far the oldest established factory industry of Bombay provided employment to nearly half the industrial workers in Bombay, in 1961. Their pre­dominance as a source of employment was more in earlier times than that in 1961. The decade 1961-71 witnessed a considerable decline in employment in cotton mills. There was an acute recession in demand and production as also replacement of workers by machinery. The average levels of output and inputs of the Bombay cotton mills between 1968-70 as indices of those in 1958-60 show that the ratios of capital and material inputs in relation to labour have increased. The figures for the Bombay cotton mills as per the Millowners' Association Annual Report, 1971 are as under:—

INDEX OF INPUTS AND OUTPUTS, 1968-70
(1958-60 = 100)

The trend in the production of the various qualities of cloth by the mills in Bombay from 1961 to 1970, as furnished in the Indian Textile Bulletin (1961 Annual and Monthly Bulletins in 1971) is shown below:—

During this period the entire cotton textile industry in India was losing ground in the world markets, but the decline in mill employment was more conspicuous in Bombay than in the rest of the country. This could be attributed partly to the greater weight of high quality cloth in the output of Bombay mills and partly to the higher level of wages in Bombay as compared to other parts of India.

An interesting phenomenon as regards employment situation in Bombay is that while there was a decline in cotton mills, the growth of employment was much faster in a newer industry like chemicals. Pharmaceuticals, accounting for about 50 per cent of the decade increase in chemicals industry, more than doubled. Other members in the manu­facturing group expanded employment at a rate comparable with other sectors of production. The highly sophisticated and techno­logically advanced industries such as petro-chemicals and electronic also expanded rapidly.

The Faster Growing Sectors : Another salient feature of the growth of the economy and employment in Bombay in the sixties was the difference in growth in the public and private sectors. Although the private sector still remained the larger sector of the economy providing larger employment, the employment in public sector increased by about 43 per cent while that in private sector by only 15 per cent during the period 1961-71. Recession had affected mostly the private sector; employment in private sector declined between 1966 and 1968, and failed to regain its 1966 level until 1971. Although the public sector also did not escape the effects of the recession during the period, the impact of recession was only marginal. The public sector recorded a faster growth than the private sector even prior to 1966, by 24 per cent as against 15 per cent. An important event in this period was the nationalization of 14 commercial banks in 1969 which naturally increased the employment in the public sector. But apart from this transfer of employment from private to public sector, the decade growth in the public sector was 39 per cent while that in the private sector was only 18 per cent.

Women workers : The proportion of female workers is much less than males in the organized sector of employment. Their proportion however increased from 6 per cent in 1961 to 8 per cent in 1971, i.e., from 53,000 in 1961 to 88,000 in 1971 which means an increase by 66 per cent over a decade.

LABOUR FORCE OUTSIDE THE ORGANIZED SECTOR, 1961-1971

The labour force outside the organized sector such as employers, unorganized workers and the unemployed persons also forms a large proportion. An indication of unemployment is provided by the number of persons registered on the live-register of the Employment Exchange, which increased from 44,037 in December 1961 to 90,654 in December 1971. This indicates that open unemployment increased markedly. It may however be noted that the correspondence between the openly unemployed and the registered job-seekers is far from correct. It therefore cannot give a conclusive evidence about the proportion of unemployment to the total labour force. A rough and broad picture of job-seekers and unemployment from 1961 to 1971, in Bombay can be seen from the following statement :—

STATEMENT No. 5
Organized Employment, Registered Job-seekers and Unemployment in Bombay, 1961-71

(Figures in thousands)

* As per 1961 Census.
Notes.—(1) ' Organized Sector' includes public sector and private sector establishments employing more than 25 persons.
(2) 'Registered Job-seekers' include number on Live Register of Bombay Employment Exchange at the end of December.
(3) 'Educated' include those attaining secondary level or above.
(4) 'Unemployed' include those seeking work but out of work for 15 days prior to enumeration.
As regards work-force in the unorganized sector, it is observed that it also increased as rapidly as that in the organized sector, if not at faster rate. It can be seen from the Statement No. 6 that at least in manufacturing and trading, the unorganized sector grew faster than the organized sector.

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EMPLOYMENT DENSITY

It is interesting to study the employment density in Bombay which reveals peculiar characteristics. Employment density in many areas of the city does not correspond to population density. The 1968 study of employment density shows that of the 18.69 lakh jobs in Greater Bombay more than 75 per cent were located in the small area in the island city.

STATEMENT No. 6
Workers outside toe Organized Sector in Greater Bombay in 1971 and comparison with 1961

Notes.-—(a) True changes in numbers at work are understated because of changed definitions. Those excluded by new procedure are unlikely to have been in organized employment. Hence increases outside the organized sector are understated. (b) Adjusted for comparability with Census.

Source.—Heather and Vijay Joshi, Surplus Labour and the City, p. 70.

The following statement shows the employment distribution and population density in various parts of Greater Bombay in 1968(Bombay Metropolitan Regional Planning Board,  Regional Plan for   Bombay Metropolitan Region, 1970-91, Vol. I, p. 31.) :—

STATEMENT No. 7
Density of Employment and Population in Greater Bombay in 1968

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EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES

Employment Exchanges play an important role in providing employment to the educated unemployed as also to skilled workers. The directorate of Employment of the Government of Maharashtra have established three employmay, viz., Regional Employment Exchange (in Fort Area), Sub-Regional Employment Exchange ( at Grant Road) and Employment Exchange at Ghatkpopar. The Regional Employment Exchange provides employmenunities to educated candidates while theSub-Regional Exchange ism eant for unskilled workers and menial services. It is wiorking as a full fledged emplyment bureau. The statistics of emplyment exchanges in Bombay between 1959 and 1976 given below in Statement No.8 are self-evident and need no comments

STATEMENT No. 8
Employment Exchange Statistics for Greater Bombay, 1959-60 to 1976

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PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYMENT

Besides being the capital of Maharashtra State, Bombay has provided a congenial home to a number of public sector offices including offices of the Central Government, commercial corporations, quasi-government bodies and local self-government bodies. In fact the proportion of employ­ment in Central Government offices is very much larger than that in State Government offices. This is accounted for by the fact that Bombay is the headquarters of the two railway zones, viz., Central Railway and Western Railway, the navy establishment, income-tax offices, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and a number of administrative and executive wings of the Government of India. The employment in local bodies in Bombay is also higher than that in the State Government. This is attributable to the fact that the Bombay Municipal Corporation is a mammoth organisation providing civic amenities to this premier city of India, and that if employs a huge personnel for manning its services and civic amenities. In keeping with Bombay's character as the commercial capital of India, there are several quasi-government bodies including commercial corporations and public sector undertakings which provide employment to a considerably large number cf persons.

The private sector is here conceived to cover establishments which are not in the public sector and which ordinarily employ 25 or more workers for remuneration. Being a centre of industries and commerce, employment in the private sector in Bombay is bound to be high.

The following figures reveal the growth of employment in public and private sectors in Bombay :—

STATEMENT No. 9
Employment in Public and Private Sectors

(Employment in '000)

The figures in brackets indicate the employment in quasi-State Sector.
Source.—Directorate of Employment [under "Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959"].

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INDUSTRIALISATION

(For detailed history of industrialisation and analysis of structure of industries refer Chapter 5.)

Bombay has a comparatively long tradition of industrialisation. Under the influence of the British rulers and an enthusiastic class cf entrepreneurs both foreign and indigenous, a good many mechanised industries grew up during the latter half of the last century. With the establishment of the first cotton mill in Bombay in 1854 a momentous growth of the textile industry was initiated. The first mill in Bombay was projected in 1851 by Mr. C. Nanabhai Davar and commenced work in 1854 as a joint stock company under the name of the Bombay Spinning and Weaving Company. Soon Bombay became the home of the textile industry. By 1865 there were ten mills in the city, working with 2,50,000 spindles and 3,380 looms. They provided employment to 6,600 persons and consumed about 42,000 bales of cotton per annum. It is noteworthy that a director of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, speaking of the Bombay mills in 1867, pointed out that the long cloths, T-cloths and domestics produced by them had been steadily gaining favour with consumers in all districts and were actually preferred to Lancashire goods of the same class owing to the fact that the Bombay goods lasted longer than the finer and heavily sized cloth produced in England.

Between 1870 and 1875 seventeen new mills had been established, thus making a total of 27, working with 7,52,634 spindles and 7,781 looms, the capital invested in the industry being Rs. 224 lakhs. The industry received a great impetus from 1875. The number of mills increased from 27 in 1875 to 32 in 1880; to 49 in 1885 and to 70 in 1890. The subse­quent quinquennium witnessed a fall in the number of mills. However the reduction in number of mills was accompanied by a rise in employ­ment, spindles, looms as well as consumption of cotton by the mills. The outbreak of plague in 1896-97, coupled with the severe famine of that year exercised for several years a most depressing effect upon the industry. The first epidemic resulted in a general flight of mill workers from the city. This necessitated open bidding for labour at street corners and the shattering of the tie hitherto binding the employer and the employed. This trouble was minimised by about 1898 as the industrial population felt that the chance of dying of plague in city, while in receipt of good wages was preferable to the prospects of starvation in up-country homes. This ensured revival of the cotton textile industry. The conditions of revival were followed by the inevitable consequences of over-production. Between 1892 and 1898 the number of mills in the island city rose from 119 to 136. The increase being almost entirely due to the establishment of new textile mills. Surprisingly this had taken place in spite of the belief that a fall in silver had exercised an adverse influence upon the trade and despite the fact that the China market, which was by far the chief outlet for Bombay's production of yarn, was being rapidly quitted. In 1899 the position of the industry was "most critical ".(Sir George Gotton.) By the end of that year nearly all the mills closed for three days in the week, while some of them were wholly shut down. Subsequent to 1902 however, the condition of the industry began to assume a more satisfactory aspect. The industry experienced excellent seasons in 1905 and 1906. The general progress of cotton spinning and weaving may be gathered from the fact that in 1908 the city contained 85 mills, having 27,34,863 spindles and 35,967 looms, employing daily on the average 1,01,536 workers and consuming about 12 lakhs of bales of raw cotton.

The general progress of the industry had been well sustained through­out the first decade of this century. The Bombay mills had many comparative advantages over western producers. The hinterland of Bombay extending over parts of Khandesh, Vidarbha, Marathwada and Gujarat provided the necessary raw cotton to the Bombay mills. In fact Bombay in those days was the biggest cotton market in Asia. The market for the manufactured articles was in the neighbourhood of Bombay. Labour too was very abundant and cheaper. These comparative advantages of the Bombay mills over the mills in European countries weighed higher than the high cost of machinery.

The statistics of cotton textile mills from 1865 to 1908 as given in the former edition of the Bombay City Gazetteer are quite revealing. Thetotal number of factories increased from 119 in 1892 to 128 in 1896, to 138 in 1901 and to 166 in 1908. The rise in the number of factories by 47 over a period of only 16 years though not spectacular from present day standards, was really impressive in the hey-days of industrialization when the entire country was still in an agricultural-cum-pastoral stage.

In 1908, there were 166 factories registered under the Factory Act of 1881 (amended in 1891). They provided employment to 1,35,663 workers. The bulk of the employment was in the cotton textile industry which was followed by iron works and foundries.

The following statement gives the number of factories by classes in Bombay city in 1892, 1896, 1901 and 1908 :—

STATEMENT No. 10

* Owned by the Bombay Electric Supply and Tramway Company.

In the initial stages of growth the cotton textile industry had to face keen competition with imported Manchester goods. But the swadeshi movement which gathered a massive following gave a distinct impetus to local manufacturers. The industry developed at a rapid pace.

The following statistics show the production of cotton textile goods in Bombay during 1904-05 and 1908-09:—

STATEMENT No. 11

The Bombay textile mills provided employment to about 98,000 per­sons in 1908, most ol whom were Marathas from Ratna&iri and Kolaba districts, with a small sprinkling of Muhammadans.

The percentage of employment in cotton textile industry to total population in Bombay increased gradually upto 1921 in which year it reached the maximum of 11.25 per cent of the total population. The diversification of industrial activity after 1921, however, caused some decline in the percentage of employment in cotton textiles to total population.

The following statement shows the trend in the growth of the cotton textile industry and the percentage of textile workers to total population in Bombay from 1865 to 1961:—

STATEMENT No. 12

The sub-joined statement shows the various stages in the gradual diversification of the industrial base of Bombay.

STATEMENT No. 13

NUMBER OF FACTORIES AND EMPLOYMENT IN REPORTING FACTORIES IN MAJOR SECTORS OF INDUSTRIES IN BOMBAY FROM 1923 TO 1957(For detailed analysis refer Chapter 5.)

Figures in brackets represent percentages of the total.
Source.—Dr. Lakdawala, Works, Wages and Well-being in an Indian Metropolis.

Factories and Factory Employment : Bombay is the industrial and commercial metropolis of India, and it would be very much realistic to say that Bombay is miniature India. The major modern industries in India are located in Bombay, as only a few other cities such as Calcutta, Madras, Bangalore, Jamshedpur and the environs of Delhi, share the total extent of industrialisation with Bombay. In keeping with the growth of Bombay, the organised sector provides employment to a large propor­tion of working population of Bombay. The organised sector, for this purpose, is conceived to include factories, shops and establishments, Railways, State Government, Union Government, Municipal Corpora­tion, Reseive Bank of India, State Bank of India, Bombay Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking, and Bombay Port Trust. The organised sectors of employment conceived as above, provided employment to 9,53,049 persons in 1951. As per the 1951 Census, the total number of earners was 13,23,256 in Greater Bombay. It means that the organised sector provided employment to about 72 per cent of the total employment in Greater Bombay. This organised sector does not cover the persons engaged in primary industries, domestic services, construction, hawkers, porters and those plying taxis and other transport vehicles, as also those employed in private educational institutions and hospitals.

Employment in the organised sector rose to 11,20,567 in 1957 which meant an increase of 17.6per cent over that in 1951. Thus on an average the employment in the organised sectors increased at the rate of 2.6 per cent per annum. It may however be noted that a number of factories did not report information regarding employment provided by them. The following statement gives the statistics of employment in the organised sector as also the estimated employment in the non-reporting factories in Bombay from 1951 to 1957:—

STATEMENT No. 14
Employment in Organised Sector, 1951-57

Examination of the structure of organised employment, the term structure being understood in the sense of agencies providing employment, reveals some interesting facts which are given below.

The shops and establishments, in Bombay which provided employment to 3,87,662 persons or 40.7 per cent of the total in 1951 was the largest single sector. This was closely followed by factories (other than govern­ment and local fund factories) which employed 3,58,098 persons or 37.6 per cent in 1951. The State and Union Governments and the Municipal Corporation together provided employment to 12.7per cent. The Rail­ways, B.E.S.T. and the Bombay Port Trust provided employment to 83,244 or 8.8 per cent of the total. The combined share of the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank of India was only 0.3 per cent. This order of comparative importance of the various sectors as regards sources of employment had remained unchanged in 1957, with the exception of the importance of factories, and shops and establishments which had under­gone a slight change. The share of factory employment in the organised sector diminished from 37.6 per cent in 1951 to 34.9 per cent in 1957, which meant a slight decline in the importance of factory employment. The share of shops and establishments however increased from 40.7 per cent in 1951 to 43.8 per cent in 1957.

It may however be explained that the share of industries and of shops and establishments in the total employment was somewhat different from that given above. This was mainly because the employment in govern­ment and local funds factories and the estimated employment in the non-reporting factories was not included in factory employment. Besides, the employment in industrial units not covered by the Factories Act was also not taken into account, and the persons employed in them were enumerated under shops and establishments, as such units were registered under the Shops and Establishments Act Employment of a purely industrial character which was included under the heading of shops and establishments has to be added to the factory data in order to arrive at the figure relating to what the census authorities termed as the processing and manufacturing sector.

According to the 1951 Census data processing and manufacturing provided employment to 4,56,304 persons which formed 47.9 per cent of the total organised employment.

Factories : A more detailed consideration of the major part of the manufacturing sector, namely factories, is given below.

In 1923, there were 324 working factories which provided employment to 2,03,416 persons. Over a period of 35 years the number of working factories increased to 3,400 while the employment therein increased to 4,24,706. There was thus a more than ten-fold increase in the number of factories. The index number for employment went up to 209 in 1957 with 1923 as the base year.( The Factories Act was amended from time to time from 1891 to 1948. However, the changes were only marginal. The employment data over the whole period are, therefore, broadly comparable. The classification of individual industries adopted from 1950 onwards was however different from that adopted earlier. Attempt is, however, made to rearrange the data relating to some industries for earlier years and presented them in a comparable form.) The trend in development of working factories and factory employment in Greater Bombay by selected industry groups for 1923-1957 is given below.

The number of factories continued to increase from 1923 except for periods of slight set-backs such as in 1927, 1931, 1932, 1946, 1953 and 1954. In spite of changes in the coverage of Factories Act, it can surely be said that the number of factories continued to increase during 1928-36, when the level of factory employment throughout was lower than that prevailing in any previous year.

The Second World War encouraged the growth of industries in Bombay. All the industries worked to full capacity, and several new factories in the fields of electrical equipment, machine tools, basic chemicals, synthetic resins, plastics, transport equipment, pharmaceuticals and hydrogenated oils were established in Bombay.

Industrialization in Bombay gathered further momentum in the post-Independence period. The number of factories registered under the Factories Act showed a sudden increase in 1949 (2,319) over that in 1939 (940). In fact factories increased by 146.7 per cent in 1949 over those in 1939. The percentage increase in factory employment from 1939 to 1949 was however not commensurate with the percentage increase in number of factories, though factory employment also increased substantially. The lagging of employment behind the number of factories might be attributed to the faster growth of small-scale industries after Independence. The percentage increase in the number of factories and factory employment in Greater Bombay showed a continuously rising trend from 1950 onwards. The growth rate of industries and factory employment was particularly very much higher in 1962 over that in 1939 and 1958. The number of factories increased from 940 in 1939 to 5,412 in 1962, which means a percentage increase of 475.7, while employment increased from 2,21,376 in 1939 to 5,61,782 in 1962, which means a percentage increase of 153.8. There was however a decline in the proportion of employment per factory from 1939 to 1962. This might be partly due to the preponderance of small-scale industries in the increasing number of new factories after Independence, and partly to adoption of more capital intensive and labour saving machinery in modern industries.

The following statement gives the statistics of number of factories and factory employment in Greater Bombay from 1939 to 1962:

STATEMENT No. 15
Growth of Factories and Factory Workers in Greater Bombay from 1939 to 1958 and 1962 (Bombay Municipal Corporation, Development Plan for Greater Bombay,  1964, p. 31.)

It should however be remembered that before 1948 factories were governed by the Factories Act of 1934 which covered factories employing 20 or more workers and using mechanical power. The 1948 Act was applied to factories employing 10 or more workers using mechanical power and to factories employing 20 or more workers but not using power. The figures in the table since 1949 are according to the 1948 Act. It is estimated that in the year 1949, the amendment in the Act made a difference of only 3,088 workers out of a total of 3,77,056 i.e. less than 1 per cent. The comparability of factory employment data over the whole period is, therefore, not vitiated. It has also to be remembered that the limits of Greater Bombay were extended on two occasions, once in 1950 and then again in 1957.

Income generated by Industries : Industries are by far the largest and the most important sector of the economy of Bombay. The industrial sector contributes about half the total income generated in Greater Bombay. The estimates of regional income prepared by the Bureau of Economics and Statistics of the Government of Maharashtra show that factory establishments contributed Rs. 35,825 lakhs to the total income of Rs.69,241.90 lakhs in 1964-65 in Greatei Bombay. The annual average per capita income in Greater Bombay was about Rs.1,500 while the per capita income generated in the whole of Maharashtra was only Rs. 524. If Greater Bombay is excluded from the calculations the average annual per capita income generated in the rest of Maharashtra works out to only Rs. 400 (1964-65). The higher per capita income in Greater Bombay can mainly be attributed to the development of industries and lucrative employment in industries.

The following statement gives the estimates of income in the various sectors of the economy of Greater Bombay in 1964-65. The estimates are based on current prices in 1964-65:—

STATEMENT No. 16
Regional Income of Greater Bombay, 1964-65

(Figures in lakhs of rupees)

Source.— (1) Bureau of Economics and Statistics, Government of Maharashtra.
(2) Statistical Wing, Town Planning and Valuation Department, Government of Maharashtra.

Location of Industries : As pointed out in one of the studies on Greater Bombay, the location of industries in Bombay is very defective. In the nature of things the existence of the industrial zone in the heart of the city is highly undesirable. The concentration of industries has also raised the problem of housing of the industrial workers. To say the least, it has generated squalid and sordid conditions of living in Central Bombay.

There is also a growing realization that even from the economic point of view the advantages of localization of industries have reached a stage of saturation.

The Government as well as the Bombay Municipal Corporation appear to be aware of this problem, and some action for shifting non-conforming industries (with temporary permits) to conforming places at different locations in industrial zones has already been started.

These efforts on the part of the Government as well as the Municipal Corporation however did not bring out any worthwhile results. Firstly, the existing and established industries were most reluctant to shift to the new site. Since there is no statutory provision of shifting them to the new location nothing worthwhile could be achieved. Secondly, the industrial plots or sheds were allotted to new industries which meant further concentration of industries in Greater Bombay. Thirdly, various vested interests including trade unions opposed shifting of established industries out of Bombay, and made a hue and cry that the flight of industries out of Bombay would be in the direction of other States rather than to suitable localities in Maharashtra. The results are therefore what they are. Even the mills which were closed and were subsequently taken over by Government as 'sick mills could not be shifted to cotton producing and cheaper labour areas in the State on government initiative. Contrary to expectations factories burnt in fires were allowed to re-build in the old congested premises. There also appears to be no restriction on the establishment in Bombay of registered offices of factories which are actually out of the city or even out of the State. The dimensions of the problem of concentration and congestion of industries have therefore widened further.

Industrial Growth of Bombay : The saga of industrial growth in Bombay is a glotious tale in the history of industrialisation not only of Maharashtra State but also of the entire country. A number of enterprising men and industrialists of vision have left their mark upon the land, and contributed, in greater or less degree, to the immense growth of this industrial metropolis. With short-lived aberrations, the city continued to attract diverse industries and industrial houses. The saga of industrialisation on modern lines started with the commencement of the cotton textile industry in 1854 which grew in importance and magnitude, and had far-reaching influences on the economic and social life in the city. The mill industry of Bombay has rightly been called the foremost indigenous industry of India. From small beginnings, the industry now is one of international importance and plays a great and important role in the prosperity of Bombay. The history of growth of this industry is already furnished in the earlier pages.

Cotton Textiles : As per the Annual Survey of Industries in 1975-77, the cotton textile industry of Bombay was constituted by 197 registered factories, which formed 19.78 per cent of the cotton textile factories in Maharashtra. The capital investment in these units in Bombay was computed at Rs. 3,00,21 lakhs or 73.20 per cent of that in Maharashtra. The cotton textile units in Bombay provided employment to 1,95,318 persons or 65.04 per cent of the employment in this industry in Maharashtra. The output of the industry in Bombay was worth Rs. 6,91,87 lakhs or 77.60 per cent of that in the State. The value added on manufacture of the cotton industry in the city was as high as Rs. 1,92,06 lakhs or 82.82 per cent of that in Maharashtra as a whole.

Engineering : The lead given by the cotton textile industry was generally followed by the engineering industry. For the general industrial growth of Bombay, it may be said that development of the engineering industry in particular has contributed significantly. There are several hundred manu­facturing units producing a variety of both capital goods such as textile machinery, printing machinery, machine tools, etc., and consumer goods like fans, bicycles, scooters, automobiles and several other articles. There are giant manufacturing complexes like, Mukund Iron and Steel, Richardson and Cruddas, Premier Automobiles, Automobile Products of India, etc., in Greater Bombay. Bombay's share in the engineering industry in India is estimated to be about one-tenth of the country's total output.(K. R. Sheshadri, Profits (in Selected Industries of Bombay City and Suburbs), unpublished thesis, University of Bombay.) The actual figures of capital investment in engineering industry of Bombay though not available, are estimated to be around Rs. 150 crores.

The growth of the engineering industry in Bombay gathered momen­tum mainly after the Second World War in general and Indian Independence in particular. The war provided a stimulus for its initial growth in so far as the supplies of the goods by way of imports were curtailed on account of the war. The defence efforts of the Government of India warranted considerable supplies of the goods to meet the demands of the armed forces. After the Independence of the country various consumer items like bicycles, automobiles, fans, sewing machines, house­hold electrical appliances, etc., and the capital goods like textile machinery, general machinery, machine tools and plant and equipment for other industries received priorities in the strategy of industrial planning. The Government of India encouraged the growth of these industries by granting tariff protection in various ways, by curtailment of imports and by providing many incidental incentives. This acted as a stimulus to incorporation of new units and expansion of the existing ones in Bombay. The development of large scale enterprises provided the stimulus for the growth of ancillary industries which manufacture small parts and equipment.

Infrastructure facilities inclusive of means of easy transport, an excellent harbour, hydro-electric power, technocrats, technical know-how and capital market are directly responsible for the growth of engineering industry in Bombay. In fact, its growth if complementary to the growth of other well-developed industries like textiles in Bombay.

Chemical Products : The chemicals and chemical products industry found a congenial home in Bombay ever since the Second World War. The war efforts of the Government of India provided the necessary impetus to the incorporation of many units as the supply of imported material was drastically cut during the war. The development of other industries, particularly, textiles, engineering, explosives, pesticides, etc. needed a number of chemicals, which encouraged the growth of the chemicals and chemical products industry. The enormous growth of textile industry which needs various chemicals and dyes as also the progress of the pharmaceuticals and drugs industries gave a fillip to this industry during the post-war period.

The important segments of the chemicals and chemical products industry are drugs and pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, dye-stuffs, paints and varnishes, plastic products, fertilizers and pesticides, organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, acids, alkalies and a number of other basic chemicals and fine chemicals.

The first pharmaceutical and chemical products factory was established at Bombay in 1887. The industry however took shape only in this century. Besides the vision and efforts of the three dedicated persons, viz. P. C. Ray, T. K. Gajjar and B. D. Amin in Western India a significant development was the establishment of the Haffkine Institute in Bombay in 1904. The Bombay pharmaceutical industry received a fillip during World War I. The establishment of Messrs. Foster & Co., May and Baker and Zandu Pharmacy were important landmarks in the growth of the industry.
The rapid growth of the industry had however to wait till the dawn of Independence. In the immediate post-Independence years from 1948 to 1953 several reputed international companies set up processing faci­lities in Bombay. A number of new units were commenced not only with the latest technology available from the advanced countries but also with foreign capital participation. The excellent infrastructure facilities coupled with foreign technical know-how stimulated the growth of the industry in Bombay which now enjoys a high reputation not only in India but also in all the continents. The tie-up with multi-national concerns also provided an impetus to research and development in this industry in Bombay. Two of India's best drug research laboratories viz., CIBA-GEIGY and Hoechst Research Centre are located in Bombay. The industry now encompasses the whole spectrum of pharmaceutical operations, research, production, marketing, quality control and professional management. There are about 454 pharmaceutical and drug units in Bombay.

The entire chemicals and chemical products industry is highly research and technology oriented. Its development gathered momentum mainly during the post-war period. But for very short-lived aberrations the industry kept a rising trend of development. As per the Annual Survey of Industries cf 1975-77, there were 454 registered factories in this industry in Bombay which provided employment to 53,479 persons. The number of factories and employment in the industry in Bombay constituted 49.02 percent and 51.24 per cent, respectively of those in Maharashtra State as a whole. The capital investment in the industry was to the extent of Rs. 4,09,17 lakhs or 47.20 per cent of the industry in the State. The capital investment in this industry was more than that even in the cotton textile industry of Bombay (Rs. 3,00,21 lakhs). The output of the industry was valued at Rs. 8,60,37 lakhs or 53.25 per cent of that in the Maharashtra industry. The value added on manufacture in this industry in Bombay was computed at Rs. 2,02,76 or 53.32 per cent of that in the industry in the State. As in the case of capital investment, the value of output and the value added on manufacture by the chemicals and chemical products industry were higher than those in the cotton textile industry of Bombay.

Petroleum : The petroleum industry, which is by far the most vital sector of the national economy, is an important industry in Bombay. It has contributed to the growth of Bombay during the last about 30 years. Of the five oil companies engaged in the refining and marketing of petroleum pro­ducts in India, three are located in Bombay. Of the three oil companies in this city, the Bharat Petroleum Corporation and the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, both of which are in the public sector at present, have their refineries at Trombay, while the third public sector company, the Indian Oil Company with its registered office in Bombay, has the headquarters of its Marketing Division in Bombay. The giant refineries of the two companies referred to above process huge quantities of petro­leum products and employ a large number of workers and personnel. The Lubrizol India Ltd., a subsidiary of the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, is another Government of India undertaking on the outskirts of Bombay. It manufactures chemical additives, solubilising agents, engine oil dispersant and intermediate components.
The Burmah Shell Company which was the private sector predecessor of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation was incorporated on 3rd November 1952, and commenced crude distillation on 30th January 1955. The refineries owned by this company along with its industrial and commercial interest were taken over by the Government of India by constituting the Bharat Petroleum Corporation in January 1976. The Bharat Petroleum refinery has a crude processing capacity of 5.25 million tonnes per annum. It has made substantial technological advancements resulting in increased processing capacity, in improved product yields and reduced fuel consumption. It processed twelve different types of crudes, and was the first to process the off-shore Bombay High Crude in 1976.

The ESSO Refineries Co. which was the private sector predecessor of the present Hindustan Petroleum was incorporated in the mid-fifties, and was marketing about 2.5 million tonnes cf petroleum products. The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation was constituted as a public sector enterprise after Government take-over of the former ESSO Company along with its refinery at Bombay in 1974. The Corporation amalgamating the Caltex Oil Company (December 1976) and the Kosangas (1979) has a huge processing a^d marketing capacity of petroleum products. Its Bombay refinery (It has another refinery at Visakhapattam with an annual capacity of. 1.5 million tonnes.)has a capacity of 3.5 million tonnes per annum, while its lubricating oil refinery, viz., the Lubrizol India, is capable of manufacturing about two lakh tonnes of lube oil base stocks and other products annually. The Corporation has made plausible technological advancements and improvements comparable to international standards.

The refineries in Bombay ate the pride of the nation and they have a vital role to play in the national economy. They have several plans and schemes for future development. Details of these Undertakings are given in Chapter 5 on Industries.

The Bombay High is a saga of India's crude exploration efforts, and a glorious tale of the country's strides towards economic prosperity and self-sufficiency in this vital sector of the economy. The Bombay High Oil-fields, 686 sq. kilometres in area, were commissioned in 1976. The crude and associated gas were discovered in 1974 and production was started in 1976. The average rate of production from the oil-fields in 1981 was 1,20,000 barrels or 16,000 tonnes of crude oil per day. The annual production of oil was planned to be augmented to twelve million tonnes from 1983. It is remarkable that this will constitute about 40 per cent of the total oil production in India. The details of the Bombay High are given in subsequent pages in this Chapter as well as in Chapter 5 on Industries.

Petrochemicals : The petrochemical industry has emerged as the principal supplier of basic chemicals which were formerly derived from coal, alcohol and vegetable oils ever since the technology using petroleum distillate as the main ingredient was developed. Petrochemicals began to be manufactured in India in 1961, and the industry made rapid progress since then. It emerged as an important industry only from the sixties. The high cost of crude had an adverse impact on the development of this industry after 1974. However, the industry has kept a good rate of development.

The Union Carbide India Ltd., Trombay, established the first inte­grated petrochemical complex in India in 1966, which was followed by the National Organic Chemical Industries, Thane. The Naphtha Cracking plant of the Union Carbide with an annual consumption of 60,000 tonnes of Naphtha is worthy of mention. This company also manufactures carbons, midget electrodes, industrial chemicals, dry cells and batteries for radio and telecommunication purposes.

The industry grew rapidly since 1966, and it currently produces raw materials for synthetic fibres, plastics and a wide range of organic chemicals. The availability of orude oil iarid gas from the Bombay High and Bassein fields would lead to an even more rapid development of the industry in the Bombay-Thane-Uran complex in the years to come.

The raw materials required for the petrochemical industry in Bombay are obtained from various sources. Gaseous sources are found in Ankale-shwar, Kalol, Cambay oil-fields near Bombay. Crude oil has so far been ruled out as a source of petrochemicals. Refinery gases and refinery distillates and residues are available in Bombay and its environs. Naphtha cracking is an important aspect of the petrochemical industry as naphtha is a good source of petrochemicals.

The petrochemical industry suffered a slump in production in many countries, including the U.S.A., Japan and Western Europe, in 1980 which was mainly due to the rising cost of crude oil as the latter rocketted by over 170 per cent from December 1978 to December 1980. In spite of the escalating prices of crude oil, the petrochemical industry in Bombay has been growing very fast, and is in fact awaiting a bright future in view of the explorations in the Bombay High and Bassein Oil and Gas fields.

Fertilizers : The fertilizer industry, started in Bombay in 1924 on an humble scale, is an important industry in this city at present. Bombay with an excellent harbour, a network of communications, proximity of oil refineries and the newly developed Bombay High, provides a congenial ground for the growth of this industry. It was therefore in the most fitness of things that the Government of India commissioned a giant fertilizer plant at Trombay. The Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers, Trombay, incorporated during the Third Five Year Plan was originally intended to produce urea and nitro-phosphate in addition to ammonium sulphate. It has now diversified its fertilizer products, and is equipped to produce a range of chemicals including elemental sulphur which is so very rare in the country. It has an installed capacity to produce 99,000 tonnes of urea per annum. It has recently expanded its capacity for production of urea. Its installed capacity for production of complex fertilizers is three lakh tonnes and of ANP 3.61 lakh tonnes per annum. The discovery of the Bombay High and the Bassein Oil-fields promises new vistas of production of fertilizers in Bombay and Thai Vaishet, on the basis of new feedstock which is bound to result in economies of cost. The naphtha and associated gas are to serve as principal feedstocks which are bound to optimise costs. Hence the bright future for the industry in Bombay.

Basic Metals : The basic metals and alloys industry is another impor­tant industry in Bombay. The history of this industry is traceable to 1857 in which year Messrs. Richardson and Cruddas engineering works were established. It was then one of the largest engineering works in India, providing employment to about two thousand persons. In 1909, there were 15 foundries and metal works. Besides, there were six other factories in metal, lock, cutter and container manufacturing including the Godrej & Boyce and Co. The basic metals and alloys industry as per the Annual Survey of Industries during the period 1975-77 comprised 294 registered factories in Bombay, which formed 44.55 per cent of the factories in this industry in Maharashtra as a whole. Greater Bombay ranks the first among the districts of the State in respect of the number of factories, invested capital, employment, inputs, output, value added on manu­facture, etc. by this industry. The capital investment in this industry in Bombay was to the extent of Rs. 90,80 lakhs or 32.39 per cent of the capital invested in the entire industry in Maharashtra. The employment in this sector of industry stood at 29,663 persons or 45.73 per cent of the total employment in this industry in the State. The output of the Bombay factories was valued at Rs. 2,18,01 lakhs or 43.44 per cent of the output in the metal and alloys factories in Maharashtra State.

The fabrication of metal containers and cans commenced in Bombay during the First World War when supplies of imported containers required by the oil companies became scarce in the country. The growth of the industry gathered momentum after the Second World War. This phenomenon could be attributed to the growth of chemicals and chemical products industry, pharmaceutical industry, vanaspati, petroleum products, paints, dye-stuffs, toiletries and many other industries in Bombay, which require containers of various sizes and types. The industry has underwent technological improvement in recent years which ensures the purity and non-contamination of the products to be packed. The Metal Box Company of India, the Zenith Tin Works, Gannon Dunkerley, Poysha Industrial Co., Mahindra Owen are the principal manufacturers in Bombay.

Automobiles : The automobile industry of Bombay occupies a place of honour in the industrial sector of India. The assembly of cars and trucks from imported components was commenced by General Motors India Ltd. in Bombay, in 1928. This pioneering enterprise was followed by the establishment of the Premier Automobiles in Bombay in 1944. This year can be said to be the most important landmark in the history of the indigenous automobile industry of India. This company was followed by two esteemed companies at Bombay, namely, the Mahindra and Mahindra established in October 1945 which commenced production in 1949, and the Automobile Products of India which was established in 1949 and commenced produc­tion in 1955. Besides the three esteemed companies mentioned above, there are several factories in Bombay manufacturing automobile accessories, ancillaries and parts. The industry in Bombay comprised 145 registered factories providing employment to about, 19,088 persons in 1975-77 period. The value of products of the industry stood at Rs. 1,20,09.63 lakhs and the value of total output at Rs. 1,29,35.35 lakhs per annum during the period of Annual Survey of Industries in 1975-77.

Machine Tools : The machine tool industry which plays an important role not only in providing efficient consumers goods but also in building up the infrastructure of the economy is one of the major industries in Bombay. The requirements of expanding industrialisation during the Second World War and the scarcity of imports on account of the war acted as a stimulus to the growth of this industry in Bombay. The pace of growth of this industry gathered momentum during the Second Five Year Plan when large composite units in the private sector expanded. Foreign collaboration enabled a rapid progress of the industry in Bombay during the sixth decade of this century. The eminent machine tool manufac­turers in Bombay include Godrej and Boyce Mfg. Co., Ralli Wolf, Kramps Hydraulic (India), Vickers Sperry of India, Indian Tool Manufacturing Ltd., Investa Machine Tools and Engineering Co., Garlic Engineering, Siemens India Ltd., Advani Oerlikon, Voltas Ltd., Batliboi and Co., Consolidated Pneumatic Tools Co., Greaves Cotton and Co., Electro Pneumatics, Dee-Key Industries, Bharat Tool Mfg. Co., Horstanann India Ltd., and a number of many others. The Larsen and Toubro Ltd. incorporated in 1946 is one of the pioneers in Bombay. As per the Annual Survey of Industries in 1973-74, there were 35 machine tool manufacturing factories in Bombay which provided employment to 2,371 persons. The capital investment of the Bombay factories was to the extent of Rs. 433.87 lakhs, while the value of their total output was computed at Rs. 798.95 lakhs. The value added on manufacture was of the order of Rs. 280.62 lakhs in 1973-74. Machine tools manufactured in Bombay are exported to the U.K., Europe, the U.S.A., Sri Lanka, Middle East, South-East Asian countries and parts of Africa, after meeting indigenous demand. The IMTEX-82 Exhibition held in Bombay in early 1982, stands testimony to the technological achievements in the machine tool industry in India, and Bombay was the befitting venue for the same.

Small tools, hand tools and accessories were manufactured by a firm in Bombay for the first time in 1937 (Indian Tariff Board Report, 1949.), and this was the first firm in India in this industry. It was during the Second World War that a factory for the manufacture of grinding wheels was established in Bombay by Grindwell Abrassives Ltd. in collaboration with Czechoslovakian engineers.(Kotharis Investor's Encyclopaedia.) This was a pioneering unit in the country in the field. The small tools and hardware industry in Bombay comprised 162 registered factories which provided employment to 8,528 persons, as per the Annual Survey of Industries of 1975-77.

Steel Furniture : The Godrej and Boyce Manufacturing Company, established towards the end of the 19th century, is a pioneering firm in Bombay, manufacturing steel furniture, locks, padlocks, steel cupboards, refrigerators, soaps, edible refined oils and a number of consumers goods. Besides, there are a number of manufacturers of steel furniture which grew mainly after the Second World War in general and the mid-fifties in particular. There were 29 steel furniture factories in Bombay providing employment to 7,445 persons as per the A.S.I. of 1975-77. The Bombay firms export many items of furniture to foreign countries after meeting domestic demand.

In spite of paucity of land for industrial location the leather goods industry has found a home in Bombay. The Carona Sahu Company, established in 1953 is one of the leading manufacturers of leather-wear not only in Bombay but also in India. Most of the other factories in the industry are in the small-scale sector.

The history of industrial fasteners and screws industry in the city is traceable to 1947 during which year a large unit in Bombay took up production of wire nails and other fasteners.(GovernmentofIndia, Handbook ofCommerciall Information ,1963.) The Guest Keen Williams Ltd., first incorporated in India at Calcutta in February 1937, commenced manufacture of a number of items at Bombay in September 1953.

Bicycle manufacturing industry in Bombay and in India dates back to 1939 when the Hind Cycles Ltd. started manufacture of a complete bicycle in Bombay. It was the pioneer in the bicycle industry in India. The concern was taken over by the Government of India, under the aegis of the National Bicycle Corporation of India, in a recent year. It has two plants in Bombay.

Industrial Machinery : Manufacture  of  cotton textile machinery is an important industry in Bombay. It caters to the needs of the textile industry in respect of .machinery, accessories and various fabricated equipment which was entirely imported upto the Second World War. In the post-war period, several machinery manufacturers as well as cotton textile mills in Bombay commenced production of the machinery required by cotton mills. The pioneer in this field in Bombay was the Acme Manufacturing Co. Ltd. which commenced production of ring frames in 1947-48.(Ibid.) The lead given by this concern was followed by the Star Textile Engineering Works in 1948 and the National Machinery Manufacturers in 1954.(Kothari's Investor's Encyclopaedia.)

Industrial machinery which constitutes a vital sector of the national economy was entirely imported from the western countries upto the beginning of the Second World War. The growth of this industry was initiated by the private sector in Bombay during the Second Five Year Plan. The infant industry was granted tariff protection in the initial stages, besides restrictions on imports. This encouraged growth of the indigenous industry in diverse directions. The pace of growth of this industry gathered further momentum in the mid-sixties. A number of large-scale manufacturers including machine tool companies undertook production of machinery for other industries as well as machine tools.

Typewriter manufacturing though not a very large industry is an important one from the point of view of utility of the product. The Godrej and Boyce of Bombay can be regarded as a pioneering concern, not only in Bombay but also in India, in the manufacture of this intricate machine. This firm was the first to undertake the job of manufacturing of an All India Typewriter. The birth of the Indian typewriter at a time when even the western countries were also not well-equipped for the manufacture of this high precision job gives tremendous credit to Indian enterprise in Bombay.
A number of industries and factories manufacturing a wide range of consumer goods and capital goods were established during the post-war period in general and the post-Independence period in particular. The war efforts of the Government of India made it imperative on the part of the authorities to encourage the growth of many defence-oriented as well as consumers goods and capital goods industries. The curtailment of foreign supplies also provided a stimulus to the growth of many industries. The cessation of hostilities in 1945 brought about conditions of slump. The competition from imported articles after the war had an adverse impact oft the infant industries in Bombay as in India. A number of industries appealed to the Government for tariff protection, which compelled the authorities to appoint Tariff Boards and Tariff Commissions from time to time. As per recommendations of these bodies the Government granted tariff protection from time to time. The Government of Independent India adopted progressive policies with a motive to encourage growth of indigenous industries and to attain self-sufficiency. Accordingly not only tariff protection was granted to many industries but also import of many goods was totally banned or highly restricted.

These measures encouraged the growth of manufacturing of all sorts of machinery, metal products, electrical machinery and transport equipment. The statistical information of these four sectors of industry in Bombay as per the Annual Survey of Industries of 1975-77 are given below:

STATEMENT No. 17

*Note.—The percentage for an industry is worked out in respect of total for that industry in Maharashtra.

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TRADE

Bombay acquired considerable importance as an entrepot centre of trade only in the beginning of this century. At the close of the 17th century, indeed, one writer had declared it impossible "that Bombay from its situation could ever become a place of trade notwithstanding the great attention paid to it by the English Government." Nevertheless Bombay grew very rapidly since the close of the last century and the beginning of this century on account of its being a wonderful natural harbour. It was also in close touch with a population which during the dim and prehistoric ages had developed the science of ocean navigation long before its rudiments were known in Europe.

Under the Portuguese rule the trade of Bombay was infinitesimal and was confined to dried fish and cocoa nuts to neighbouring coast towns; and in truth the anxiety of the East India Company to secure the island arose not so much from the idea of converting it into a flourishing mart as from the desire to possess a secure position on the Western coast. According to Mr. Fryer the trade of Bombay was very small in 1675 which advanced appreciably under the rule of Aungier, the Governor. In the 17th century Bombay was economically so unpromising a posses­sion that in 1668 King Charles II of England transferred it to the East India Company at an annual rate of only £ 10. King Charles had received it as a dowry at his marriage with the Portuguese Princess, Catherine of Braganza in 1661. The East India Company shifted the headquarters of its trade from Surat to Bombay in 1687. This was however followed by a great depression between 1690 and 1710.

In 1757 Mr. Ives described the town as the most flourishing in the World, " The grand store-house of all Arabian and Persian commerce ", while another writer speaks of the sale of woollens and other European goods to the extent of the lakhs a year. Mr. Forbes described the mer­chants of Bombay as trading with all the principal seaports, inland, cities of India, and as extending their commerce to the Persian and Arabian Gulfs, the coasts of Africa, Malacca and China and the eastern islands. At the opening of the 19th century, Bombay appeared to Milburn " to bid fair to be the most durable of all the English possessions in India ". Basra, Muscat, Ormuz and other ports in the Persian Gulf furnished Bombay with pearls, raw silk, wool, dates, dried fruits, rose-water and scents; Arabia supplied it with coffee, gold, drugs and honey; while a number of ships annually freighted with cotton and bullion for China returned laden with tea, sugar, porcelain, wrought silk, nankins, and a variety of useful and ornamental articles. The exports from Bombay consisted of English woollens, copper, iron, lead, Surat goods, pepper and cotton to Madras, Bengal, China and Gulf areas.

Bombay could not herself furnish any considerable article of export or even food sufficient for her own people; but every European and Asiatic commodity was procurable within her limits. Mr. Hamilton remarked that Bombay was the very best mart for guns, drugs, Mocha coffee, cornelians, agates and Surat fabrics; and besides being the chief emporium for the goods of Persia, Arabia and western India, she possessed a larger trade with England than any other Presidency.

Foreign Trade : Bombay figures in the writings of ancient travellers as a part on the Thane coast which once played a leading part in the foreign trade of western India. It was however in recent times that it acquired considerable importance as a centre of trade. Dr. Fryer recorded that the trade of Bombay in 1675 was very small. Under the rule of Aungier an appreciable advance was made. In 1670 the local trade was confined to bullion. After about four years trade in cloth, serges, lead, copper, red lead, iron and ivory was started with England. The exports from Bombay included cloth, baftas, dungaris, porcolloes, pepper, drugs, etc. General Aungier realised enormous potentialities of the trade of Bombay and he did his level best to advance the trade of this city.

Between 1664 and 1668 Bombay gradually developed as a chief centre of English commerce with western India and considerable impulse to trade was afforded by the decision of the Company in 1687 to transfer the headquarters of Company's trade from Surat to Bombay. Between 1690 and 1710 a period of great depression set in owing to the rivalry between the London and the English East India Companies, and trade languished greatly.

In 1753 Bombay had become the centre of trade between western and upper India and between Malabar coast, the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.

The trade between Bombay and the other ports of the Thana coast between 1660 and 1800 was chiefly in grain, vegetables, fruits, fowls, and mutton for the Bombay market and in teak from Vasai. The trade was much hampered by taxes imposed in Bombay while a regular barrier of custom houses—English, Portuguese and Maratha and the disturbed condition in the Deccan prevented any considerable inland trade. By the close of the third decade of the 18th century Bombay's commerce was in a most flourishing condition. Forbes described the port between 1766 and 1770 as one of the finest marts in India, employing a large number of vessels. The cotton trade with China commenced about 1770. Basra, Muscat, Ormuz and other ports in Persian Gulf furnished it with pearls, raw silk, wool, gold, drugs etc., while from Java, Malacca and Sumatra, Bombay vessels brought spices, perfumes, sugar etc.
The intercourse between India and America was then in infancy and the Portuguese trade with Bombay from Goa, Daman and Lisbon was trifling.

From 1795 a steady increase was noticeable in the external commerce of Bombay. The total value of Bombay trade (foreign and coasting) amounted to Rs. 406 lakhs in 1801-02. Except the decade ending 1819-20 during which the average showed a decrease, the average value of trade always showed a rising trend in the subsequent decades. The average value in 1829-30, was Rs. 566 lakhs. It rose to Rs. 26,20 lakhs in 1859-60 and Rs. 8,506 in 1889-90.

Upto the year 1869-70 the import trade of Bombay was confined chiefly to the United Kingdom, China and the Persian Gulf. Owing to the abolition of the East India Company's monopoly and the opening of the Suez Canal (1869), the current of trade from 1870 showed a disposition to return gradually to the channels used before the discovery of the passage round the Cape of Good Hope. Subsequent to 1870 other European countries commenced to acquire an increasing share. The following figures, in lakhs, show a rising trend of exports and imports of Bombay since 1800-01:—

The imports to Bombay consisted of cotton piece-goods, silk manufac­tures, sugar, machinery, metals, oil, dyes, liquors, coal, cotton yarn, kerosene, etc. The chief contributor to the import trade in cotton piece-goods was the United Kingdom.

In the decade ending 1850, the value of imported cotton piece-goods was nearly 88 lakhs which rose to 723 lakhs in decade ending 1890. During 1901-07 the total value of the trade was nearly 779 lakhs. Other countries which exported cotton piece-goods were Austria, Hungary, France, Belgium, Germany and America, the last one started its export during the decade ending 1890. Until 1870 the silk manufacture were chiefly from China. However after that United Kingdom, France and Italy started to send silk piece-goods. During 10 years ending 1870 imports from England amounted to one lakh and increased to ten lakhs during the period commencing 1900-01. Among Asiatic countries Egypt commenced to send silk piece-goods to Bombay before 1861-70, while Japan joined in 1891-1900. The United Kingdom had monopoly of machinery and mill requirements. The imports from Germany and America were drifting. As regards import of woollen piece-goods, the United Kingdom started exporting at the opening of the 19th century. The other countries which had a share in this were Germany, the chief competitor, Belgium, France, Egypt and Persia. Bombay commenced to import sugar from United Kingdom at the opening of the 19th century. The import from Mauritius was a noticeable phenomenon in the sugar trade. In 1895-96, the German sugar was put on the market in large quantities. Along with China, Jawa had also a small share in the sugar import. In the metal imports also the United Kingdom had a bulk share and had done so since the opening of the 19th century. Bombay received imports of metals from other countries like Austria, France, Norway, Sweden and Germany. Russia was the first to export kerosene to Bombay in 1880. Subsequently America started exporting oil. The import of Sumatra oil became an established fact in about 1900, while in 1903-04, a new feature was introduced into trade by the import of Burma oil. There was no import of coal during the first half of the 19th century. But from 1860 onwards with expansion of railway, steam navigation and telegraphs the trade assumed considerable proportion. Upto 1890 United Kingdom and America were the only partners in exporting coal to Bombay. However, since 1890 Japan entered in this trade.

Bombay was the sole outlet for the cotton produce of Gujarat, the Deccan and the Central Provinces and her export trade was confined for the most part to cotton, wheat and seeds. About 1825 the exports from Bombay became considerable. The heyday of Bombay's exportation of cotton coincided with the outbreak of American war (1861-65). Upto 1890 the United Kingdom was the chief recipient of Indian raw cotton. However from 1891 onwards Japan, Austria, Hungary, France, Italy started importing cotton from India. The export trade of wheat commenced in 1851 and was insignificant until 1871. The United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain shared in this trade. The first shipment of oilseeds occurred in the decade ending 1849-50 and were despatched to the United Kingdom. Austria, United Kingdom, Germany, Holland and France were th emajor countries importing Indian oilseeds. Before the improvements in mill machinery in Great Britain, cotton piece-goods were exported to England in considerable quantities. During the earlier years of the 19th century England, France, Portugal, Arabia, Persia absorbed large quantities of export trade.

In 1854, the first cotton mill was established in Bombay. During 1865 there were 10 mills in Bombay which increased to 85 by the end of 1907. The countries like Arabia, Persian Gulf, Africa absorbed products of the Bombay mills. The exports of cotton goods from Bombay therefore showed a steady tendency to expand in the last decade of 19th century in spite of competition from Japan.

Coasting Trade: The coasting trade of Bombay fluctuated in accordance with increase or decrease of imports and with the demands from foreign countries. The principal articles of trade were raw cotton collected from Gujarat and Cutch; cotton piece-goods from Gujarat, Bengal and Goa; rice from Goa, Gujarat; and sugar from Bengal and other districts of the Presidency.

The coasting trade maintained steady progress except the temporary depression of 1811-12 due to unfavourable conditions in China and great scarcity in Cutch and Gujarat. In 1827, the commercial position in Bombay was far from favourable. Between 1835 and 1850 the Bombay Government strived hard to enlarge coasting and foreign trade by removing restrictions such as inland cotton and sugar duties. During 1854-64, Bombay enjoyed an unusual amount of prosperity as both foreign and coasting trade largely increased. This was due to high prices received for cotton during the American War. The following figures of coasting imports and exports show the substantial increase since 1880-81 :—

(Rs. in lakhs)

Rail-borne Trade: The then Great Indian Peninsula Railway and the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway carried a large traffic to and from Bombay serving practically the entire country. The GIP Railway which was opened for traffic for 1258 miles in 1870 booked 2,12,905 tons of goods to stations in Bombay city and Island and carried 1,26,861 tons of goods from stations within the same area. The bulk of trade was in cotton and grain brought from the Deccan and Central Provinces by the GIP Railway and from Gujarat by the BB&CI Railway. In the subsequent decade the rail-borne trade increased in proportion to the increase in foreign trade of the port. The following figures show the increased rail-borne trade of Bombay island since 1888-89 for a few years :—
(Rs. in '000)

The chief imports by the BB&CI Railway were raw cotton, grains, pulses and oilseeds; while chief items of exports were cotton piece-goods, sugar and metals. The GIP Railway also carried the same items of exports and imports from and to Bombay.

Local Trade : Even after possession of the island by the East India Company the local trade of Bombay was comparatively small. The factors responsible for this state of affairs were lack of capital, external warfare, epidemic diseases, low strength of traders, etc. The retail trade in rice and grain was in the hands of persons known as the kacharas appointed by the Company's Government. The unfair practices by the kacharas, however resulted into appointment of a clerk of the market in 1741 to undertake retail sale of grain.

Except grain trade, other traders were free from Government interference in the 18th century and cultivators, fishermen, vegetable growers were encouraged to bring their produce in the Bombay market. By the end of 18th century a considerable number of Parsis joined existing trading community of Banias and Musalmans. An English firm, viz., Forbes and Company was opened in 1767 which transacted mercantile business. According to Mrs. Elwood (1830) the retail trade of Bombay was almost wholly in the hands of the Jew community. Bombay in 1847 contained 201 dal and rice dealers, 152 confectioners, 491 cloth merchants 203 dealers in brass and copper, 459 liquor dealers, 736 goldsmiths, 253 tobacconists and 439 pawn brokers.
As per 1901 census returns more than 1/10 urban population was engaged in trade of one kind or another. The leading traders were Bhatias, Banias, Jains, Bohras, Memons, Parsis, Jews and Europeans. Marathas dealt largely in fruit and vegetables, while the Kolis monopolised fish supply. Hawkers numbered nearly 2,000 and earned more in the mango season. Retail shopkeepers bought their stock from the whole­salers at Masjid Bandar (grocery), Mulji Jetha Market (cloth and hosiery), Pydhoni (copper), Ganeshwadi (drugs), Mandvi (foodgrains, sugar, ghi) Shaikh Memon Street (silver and gold) and Fort (opium and machinery).

The seaborne trade from the Bombay Harbour increased progressively during the post-Independence period. The cargo handled at the port was about 5.18 million tonnes which comprised 3.26 million tonnes of imports and 1.92 million tonnes of exports. The following statistics show the trend of imports and exports handled at the Bombay port during the planning period :—

(Figures in million tonnes)

A salient feature of the trend in seaborne trade is that the composition of the cargo and its variety have underwent immense change during the post-Independence period. Petroleum, oil and lubricants now constitute about 55 per cent of the total cargo. In keeping with the progress of industrialization in the country and the priorities fixed for the national economy there had been a larger import of industrial machinery, basic metals, basic chemicals, fertilizers, fertilizer raw materials such as rock phosphate, crude sulphur, urea, etc. Foodgrains also constituted an important item of import trade upto 1975 after which the food imports declined due to favourable conditions in the country itself. During the pre-Independence period a number of consumers' goods, even the most petty articles like pins and hair-pins, were imported from the U.K. which ruled over India. Almost all kinds of machinery, tools, equipment and even screws and bolts were imported from the U.S. The main items of exports from Bombay, at present, are cloth, sugar, tools, industrial accessories, iron and steel goods, oil-cakes, cashew-nuts, etc. In the case of exports also, the composition of the cargo has underwent a formidable change during the last about twenty years. Manufactured articles are progressively taking the place of primary goods. The Government has also undertaken a number of export promotion schemes.

The traffic of Bombay port declined sharply during World War I, despite an increase in the exports durirg the last two years of the War. The total traffic plummeted from 5.02 million tons in 1913-14 to 4.01 million tons in 1915-16 and stood at 4.15 million tons in 1918-19. Though the declining trend persisted for a short while even after termination of the War in November 1918, the traffic picked up rapidly and the figure for 1919-20 rose to 6.25 million tons, registering a substantial increase over the pre-War level. This increase was maintained till 1929-30 when it reached 6.69 million tons.(Bombay Port Trust, The Port of Bombay—A Brief History.)

The buoyancy of the twenties was, however, succeeded by a decline in international trade as a result of the Great Depression in the early thirties. The Depression affected the foreign trade of Bombay adversely. The volume of trade declined from 6.69 million tons in 1929-30 to 4.69 million tons in 1932-33, and it fluctuated around 5.4 million tons till 1939-40. The fall in exports was more severe than that in imports.

With the outbreak of World War II, the foreign trade of Bombay declined slightly from 5.4 million tons in 1939-40 to 5.1 million tons in 1940-41. However, with the gearing up of the War effort and the revival of industrial activity to meet the War needs, the traffic handled at Bombay port revived to the earlier level of over six million tons from 1941 on­wards. The entry of Japan into the World War and her occupation of Burma, virtually closed the Bay of Bengal to shipping. Consequently the country's seaborne trade was diverted to Bombay, Karachi and Cochin. The turnover of foreign trade declined to 5.36 million tonnes in 1946-47.(Ibid.) This decline was attributable to the slump in economic activity after the cessation of hostilities of the World War and many other damages due to War.

The volume of trade at the Bombay port increased progressively during the post-Independence period. There has been a tremendous expansion in the world seaborne trade in both volume and value, ever since the launching of planned economic development in 1950-51. The composition of foreign trade has underwent fundamental changes in keeping with the industrial and economic policies of the Government of India.

The statistics of imports and exports from the Bombay port in certain selected years since Independence are given below:—

IMPORT AND EXPORT TRAFFIC AT THE BOMBAY PORT SINCE INDEPENDENCE
(Bombay Port Trust, The Port of Bombay—A Brief History.)
(D. W. tonnes in millions)

The import of petroleum, oil and lubricants increased considerably since 1954-55, and they now constitute, on an average, about 55 per cent of the total traffic of the port. The other items which have contributed to the increase in traffic consist of iron, steel and machinery for plan projects, foodgrains, fertilizer raw materials (rock phosphate, crude sulphur, urea, etc.) and chemicals on the import side. The main items of export are oil-cakes, iron scrap and dross, sugar, iron and steel, and manganese ore. The increase in imports in 1965-66 and 1966-67 might also be due to the appreciable rise in the import of military hardware on account of the experience oi Indo-Pak War of 1965.
The decline after 1966-67 was mainly due to diversion of some traffic of petroleum, oil and lubricants consequent upon the setting up of oil refineries elsewhere in India; decline in iron and steel imports due to growth of indigenous production, reduction in imports of foodgrains and the virtual disappearance of the iron ore traffic as a result of the development of other ports for ore export.

The rail-borne import and export trade from Bombay is immensely large. Lakhs of tonnes of goods are imported and exported by the Central Railway as also the Western Railway to and from Bombay. The turnover of goods traffic on the former is much larger than on the latter. This is attributable to the fact that a larger part of the country com­prising the  southern,   central, eastern and north-eastern   regions of India, are connected with the Central Railway than with the Western Railway.

The import and export goods traffic on the Central Railway in 1975-76 and 1976-77 and that on the Western Railway in 1974-75 are given below:—

INWARD AND OUTWARD GOODS TRAFFIC TO AND FROM BOMBAY BY RAILWAYS
(Information received from the Central Railway and the Western Railway.)

(Figures in tonnes)

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

Chambers of commerce played an important role in the development of trade and commerce, promotion of exports and protection of interests of the trading community in Bombay.

The history of chambers of commerce in Bombay can be traced back to 22nd September 1836 when the Bombay Chamber of Comrnerce was established.

The important chambers of commerce in Bombay, are Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Western India Chamber of Commerce, Bharat Merchants' Chamber, Hindustan Chamber of Commerce, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, Iron, Steel and Hardware Merchants' Chamber of India, and Indian Merchants' Chamber.( For details refer to Chapter 6— Trade and Commerce.)

By and large, a chamber of commerce functions as a spokesman of industry, trade and commerce. The Indo-foreign Chambers of Commerce in Bombay have a special role to perform. They promote economic co-operation between India and the respective country. They also promote foreign collaboration in industry and trade by negotiating collaboration agreements between interested parties and Government authorities.

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BANKING

The history (For details-refer to the Gazetteer of Bombay City and lsland;Vol 1,1909, pp. 288-93. ) of banking in the city can be traced to 1720 in which year a bank was established in Bombay with the assistance of the East India Company. This bank which was under management of the Bombay Government was however closed in 1778 due to accumulation of debts. During the 19th century banking in Bombay was carried on by about 100 Hindu shroffs until the establishment of the Bank of Bombay. The Bank of Bombay was opened in 1840. Besides usual banking business, it enjoyed the privilege of issuing bank notes upto 1860. In 1842, the Bank of Western India was established at Bombay in order to facilitate the conduct of exchange and other legitimate banking business from which the Bank of Bombay was excluded by its charter. It had its branches in Calcutta, Colombo, Hongkong and Singapore. A third banking company known as the Commercial Bank of India was formed in 1845 mainly on the suggestion of Indian merchants. It was followed by the establishment of the branches of the Oriental Bank of London, the North-Western Bank of India and the London and Eastern Bank. Many branches were opened during the subsequent period. The year 1863-64 was one of great prosperity, and enormous wealth poured into the city in consequence of the cutting off of the American Cotton supply. This sudden increase of wealth engendered the wildest speculation and resulted in 1863 and 1864 in the formation of numerous banking and financial associations. The old Bank of Bombay was reconstructed in 1868.

Banking made steady progress upto 1890, but during the next 15 years there was stagnation caused by bad seasons and outbreak of plague. Some banks preferred closure to bad survival. In 1908, Bombay contained three local banks, two branches of Indian banks, three of London banks and four other banks. The three local banks of importance were the Bank of Bombay (1868), the Bank of India (1906) and the Indian Specie Bank (1906).

The mercantile and moneyed classes in the city encouraged the growth of commission agents and industrial houses. Thus availability of capital and an entrepreneurial class gave phillip to industrialisation in Bombay.

Krishna Arjunji Nathji, a Gujarati Shroff, was the first financier of the Bombay administration of the East India Company. He lent finances to the company for the first time in November 1759.

In December 1976 there were 795 banking offices in Bombay, while the corresponding number for Maharashtra was 3,370. The commercial importance of Bombay is revealed by the statistics of banking. In Decem­ber 1975 there were 729 banking offices which had deposits worth Rs. 2,17,078 lakhs and had advanced Rs. 2,03,666 lakhs. The total bank credit issued by the banks in Bombay stood at Rs. 1,56,95,072 lakhs in December 1975 which was granted to 1,32,252 account holders.

Of the 14 nationalised banks, the head offices of four banks, viz., the Central Bank of India (established in 1911), the Bank of India (established in 1906), the Union Bank of India (1919) and the Dena Bank (1938) are located in Bombay. Besides the Reserve Bank of India which is the Central Bank of India has its head office in Bombay. Besides the usual functions of the bank as a central bank, the Reserve Bank of India has been playing a vital role in direction and control of economic development of the country.

The State Bank of India which has also its head office in Bombay is functioning as an instrument of government policy of economic development.

Besides the banks in the public sector, there are a number of commercial banks in the private sector including the foreign banks and in the co­operative sector. They include the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank and the regional bank branches of the giant banks in the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Canada, France, Japan, Hongkong, West Germany and many other countries in the world. A detailed account of Banking is given in Chapter 6 above.

INVESTMENT TRUSTS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Prior to Independence bank credit was available mainly to commerce and financial activity only. Commerce and finance by themselves claimed about 51 per cent of the bank credit while only 30 per cent went to the industrial sector by the end of 1949. The percentage of bank credit to industries showed some improvement after 1949. But with the rapid progress in industrialisation in the private sector, the total requirements could not be met by the banks alone. The problem was more acute in the case of long term capital. The scheduled banks followed a policy of caution. The Government therefore felt it imperative to launch a series of stabilised financial institutions to meet the needs of industry. In 1948 came the Industrial Finance Corporation, and it was followed by the State Financial Corporation consequent on the State Financial Corporation Act of 1951. While the IFC was designed to serve the large-scale industry, the SFC is to take care of needs of medium and small-scale industries. The National Industrial Development Corporation was formed in 1954 to undertake the responsibilities of encouraging small-scale industries by providing finance for machinery, etc. The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (I.C.I.C.I.) was founded in 1955 largely due to the suggestion of the World Bank. This was followed by the Refinance Corporation in 1958 which provided refinance facilities to banks to enable them to provide finance to industries. The establishment of the Industrial Development Bank of India (I.D.B.I.) in 1964 was a very important event in the field of finance to industries. It plays a leadership role in expansion of industries and evaluation of industrial projects.

Prior to the establishment of the I.D.B.I. and the I.C.I.C.I. entre­preneurs used to get funds only on the basis of their standing and prestige. There was practically no system of project evaluation in India. The I.D.B.I. and the I.C.I.C.I. introduced a tradition of project evaluation before financial lending. They undertake various functions such as discussion of project ideas, feasibility study, search for etitrepreneural talents, and provision of technical and financial assistance on a consortium basis.

Besides, the Maharashtra State Finance Corporation (M.S.F.C.) which has celebrated its silver jubilee recently has been providing industrial finance to small and medium State industries.

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TRANSPORT FACILITIES

Bombay is most advantageously situated as regards railway communications. Three trunk routes emanate from Bombay which traverse through the length and breadth of the entire country. Thus, Bombay is connected with practically every State in the Indian Union and affords railway communication with almost all industrial and commercial cities.

Important national highways emanating from Bombay are also con­nected by a number of State Highways, their points of junctions being either on the outskirts of Bombay or a little beyond.(For details refer to Chapter 7 in this volume.)

The Bombay port is the keystone of the prosperity of Bombay City. It is one of the eight major Ports in India, and provides all the facilities as per international standards.

Apart from being one of the finest natural harbours, Bombay's central position on the west coast of India, its advantageous position with respect to the Suez Carnl and Europe and its accessibility to a vast hinterland by three broad gauge railways running north, east and south and a network of national and state highways have made Bombay the main distributing entrepot of the overseas trade for the western and central regions of India. " Bombay's claim to be the premier port of India is based on the facts that it is the leading oil port with over 50 per cent of the foreign traffic, the leading general cargo port with about 33 per cent of the foreign traffic, the leading port for overseas passenger traffic and the main base for the Indian Navy. It bore the brunt of the heavy food-grain imports of the last decade, handling  as much as 35 per cent of the imports in the peak period. Bombay's share of the total sea-borne traffic of the country, foreign and coastal, in 1970-71 was over 23 per cent, the highest for any port."

The Bombay Port Trust, which celebrated its first Centenary on 26th June 1973,(Bombay Port Trust, The Port of Bombay.) has contributed immensely to the growth of Bombay as also to the national economy. It undertook a good many schemes for the improvement of the port, and has many schemes of further modernisa­tion and expansion. It has also plans for constructing a satellite port at Nhava-Sheva across the harbour.

Infrastructure in the form of an excellent transport system has immensely contributed to the economic development of Bombay. It is therefore of great interest to give a brief history of the growth of the transport system of Bombay. As a matter of fact the history of Indian Railways starts from the establishment of the first railway line from Bombay to Thane. The twenty-one miles (33.60 km) of rail from Bombay to Thane was opened for traffic on April 16th, 1853 which was a day of rejoicing in the city. The progress of the railway was steadily sustained in the years to follow and Bombay started wielding direct influence in the regions far beyond her own limits. The extension to Kalyan was opened on May 1, 1854. The new year day of 1861 witnessed the opening of the line to Kasara at the foot of the Thai Ghat. The opening cf the Bhor Ghat incline took place on the 21st April 1863, amid great rejoicing in the presence of the Governor, Sir Bartle Frere. The Thai Ghat incline was opened in January 1865. The three main railway termini at Nagpur, Jabalpur and Raichur were reached on 20th February 1867, 8th March 1870 and 1st May 1871, respectively.

The two main lines of the G.I.P. Railway from Bombay conferred incalculable benefits upon the country. The immediate benefits were manifested by the projection of fresh railways even prior to completion of the two routes from Bombay. The work of constructing the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway (B.B.&C.L) was commenced in May 1856, and the first section from Amroli to Ankaleshwar was opened in February 1860. The railway communication between Bulsar and Baroda was established by the end of 1861. This line was connected to Bombay in November 1864, when the main line to Ahmedabad may be said to have been completed. The whole line from Bombay (Colaba) to Wadhvan was opened throughout in 1872. Thorough communication was established from Bombay to Calcutta in 1870 and to Madras in 1871 which led to a large increase in both goods and passenger traffic. Goods transport steadily expanded from 1880 owing in a large measure to the rapid growth of the factories in Bombay on western model. The quantity of cotton brought to Bombay by the railway trebled between 1880 and 1908.

The Bombay Port Trust railway which was first proposed in 1894 was constructed in 1915; with a length of about 12 km. from Wadala junction to Ballard Pier. It has had a total length of about 175 km. of main lines and sidings. This railway has facilitated the increasing business of the Bombay Port by affording greater facilities for the shipment of produce. It helped transformation of methods of handling cotton. Huge cotton depots covering nearly 50 hectares of land were erected; to the east of the cotton depots are the grain depots, and further north the manganese ore and coal depots. Huge oil installations were also set up in the vicinity of the Port Trust railway in three groups: the liquid fuel and lubricating oil depots at Malet Bandar, the kerosene oil installations at Sewri, and the petrol installations further north at Wadala, all of them being connected by pipelines with discharge berths on the Bombay Harbour Walls and at Pir Pau. This establishment encouraged a tremendous growth of oil trade of Bombay in particular and of Western India in general, which over a decade shot up from a mere half million gallons to about 19 million gallons.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 effected a complete revolution in the trade and consequently in the industrial growth of Bombay. This reduced the distance from Bombay to England to almost half. A direct submarine cable was laid from Suez to Bombay a year later, in connection with the cable from Falmouth to Gibraltar.

All these communication facilities conferred on Bombay the status and proud position as the Gateway of India. The improvement in this infrastructure led to an enormous increase in cotton trade in the beginning and in all-round trade in almost all commodities in later years.

The construction of the Colaba Causeway in 1838 was an.important landmark in the growth of Bombay. This was preceded by construction of a good carriage road up the Bhor Ghat during the regimes of Mount-stuart Elphinstone and Sir John Malcolm which connected Bombay to the Deccan. This Ghat was opened on 10th November 1830.

The period 1838 to 1872 was perhaps a very important period in the economic history of Bombay because during these years the old commercial town was transformed into a prosperous commercial and industrial centre. The development of transport facilities was an important contributing factor. The Malum Causeway constructed in 1845 provided a second link between the city island and Salsette, the first one being the Sion Causeway constructed in January 1805.

All these factors have made Bombay the main distributing entrepot of the overseas trade for the western and central regions of India. Bombay's share of the total sea-borne traffic of the country, foreign and coastal, in 1970-71, was over 23 per cent, the highest for any port.

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MARINE RESOURCES

The marine resources of Bombay are very rich from ancient times. The Mahikawati-Bakhar and Bombay City Gazetteer of 1909 refer to the prosperity of the Sonkolis (fishermen) of Bombay when king Bimbadev established his rale at Mahim (Mahikawati) in A.D. 1300 It was in 1766, that the East India Company imposed a tax (This tax was withdrawn subsequently.) on fishermen after realising the prosperity of the occupation. The area suitable for fishing extends over 200 kilometres to the west of Bombay. It has largely muddy and sandy bed which is conducive to fast reproduction of fish.

The production of fish in the Bombay sea waters has always been on the increase. The statistics of production of fish at Bombay are given below:—

Production of Fish in Bombay Sea Waters, 1971-76

The fisheries department estimated that the gross value of the turnover of fish at Bombay was to the tune of Rs. 36 crores in 1976. A good amount of fish is exported from Bombay to the Middle East Countries.

Salt is another marine wealth available at Bombay. The salt pans at Wadala, Bhandup and Chembur are the main centres of salt production in Bombay. The production of salt has however dwindled due to the expansive reclamation of salt pan areas for residential and other urban development purposes.

By far the most important of the marine wealth of Bombay is now traced at what is known as the ' Bombay High'. It is estimated that the oil wells at Bombay High may yield about 100 million tonnes of petroleum. A detailed account of the Bombay High project is given below.

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BOMBAY HIGH

(The account is based on pamphlet Samudra Manthan, 1981, published by the Oil and Natural Gas Commission.)

The oil exploration project known as the ' Bombay High' is one of the most important landmarks in the development for the national economy. The saga of Bombay High is an interesting tale of the Indian offshore effort and a prosperous future of the Indian economy. The first step in offshore oil exploration in India was taken by the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) when it conducted an experimental seismic survey in 1963. From 1964 to 1967 regional reconnaissance was undertaken with the help of a Soviet seismic ship which delineated the Bombay High structure, besides others in the Cambay basin. This led to detailed seismic surveys of the Bombay High and adjoining areas. The ONGC which was entrusted with the exploration work obtained a sophisticated jack-up rig of the Mercury class from Japan, viz., the Sagar Samrat. The drilling operation by Sagar Samrat commenced on January 31, 1974. Three weeks later, on February 19, 1974, oil was discovered. Further drilling hinted at the presence of gas bearing sand at about 1160 m. depth and an oil-bearing lime stone reservoir at about 1300 m. depth. This accen­tuated ONGC's oil exploration and production programme. In order to explore the 3,80,000 sq. km. of the Indian continental shelf, the ONGC purchased in July 1975 its own seismic survey vessel, viz., Anwekshak, which is equipped with a vast range of sophisticated geophysical equip­ment, a sea gravity meter, a magnetometer, computers and other latest equipment. It is the first of its kind in India and it can navigate and operate in any kind of weather without dependence on shore-based station. The Anwekshak has made several significant discoveries including the South Bassein gas-field and several oil-fields.

Till March 1981, ONGC had drilled 91 offshore exploratory and assessment wells in this region, of which only 35 proved to be dry. Today it owns three Jack-up rigs, viz., Sagar Samrat, Sagar Vikas and Sagar Pragati, with two more on order.

The ONGC has been operating in the Bombay High project with speed and tangible results. The phenomenal growth of this project from 4,300 BPD to 1,50,000 BPD in less than five years is a significant achievement for the national economy. Bombay High has wrought its marine miracle of today (May 1981) through five time-bound and result-oriented phases.

The first phase of the project started with the beginning of installation work in December 1975. The project involved installation of a well-cwm-production platform and other facilities. The target of 40,000 BPD of oil was reached in January 1977. The first barrel of oil was obtained on May 21, 1976.

The second phase was commenced in early 1976 and the facilities were installed in April 1977. The targetted rate of production, viz., 80,000 BPD was achieved in January 1978.

Exclusive oil and gas submarine trunk pipelines (260 km. in length) were laid during the third phase from Bombay High to Uran and further on to Trombay where refineries, fertilizer and power plants are located. This enabled the authorities to continue oil production perennially, to maintain uninterrupted flow of oil to the refineries and to utilise the associated gas on shore. This phase was compltetd in July 1978 and production touched the 1,00,000 BPD level by the end of 1978.

Boosting the production capacity of the northern part of Bombay High from 1,00,000 BPD to 1,80,000 BPD and building a giant process platform figured prominently in the fourth phase. The platform provides gas compression facilities and can receive hydrocarbons from 19 oil wells and well-cum-production platforms. The platform known as BHN is one of the most sophisticated of its type in the oil producing countries in the world. Initiation of production from the south and central sections of Bombay High is a part of this phase. Two platforms were commis­sioned in this Zone, while a gas fractionation plant with liquid petroleum gas extraction facilities of 1,98,000 tonnes per annum is in the offing. The oil production rate of 1,40,000 BPD which can be regarded as most spectacular was achieved in January 1981.

The oil and gas produced offshore is transported to the terminal at Uran for stabilisation and delivery to refineries as also for extraction of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and other constituents before sending it on to the fertilizer and petrochemical plants.

The ONGC has future ambitious plans on the anvil, slated for timely execution. The spectacular plans envisage stepping up of crude production from Bombay High from 1,40,000 to 2,40,000 BPD by the middle of 1982. The Bombay High project exhibits spectacular technological advancement and self-reliance in this vital sector of the national economy.

The distinguishing feature of the Bombay High oil is that its deposits are in lime-stone rocks. The quality and yield of this oil are very much superior to the oil deposits in sand-stone rocks. It is comparable in quality to the oil in Arab countries. The crude-oil at Bombay High yields petroleum four to five times of the one explored at Ankaleshwar. The gas will provide a cheaper fuel for domestic consumption and heavy industries. In fact availability of this gas has prompted the Government to establish a giant fertilizer plant at Thal-Wayshet near Bombay.

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BOMBAY METROPOLITAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN, 1970-91

The momentous and uninterrupted growth of Greater Bombay made it necessary to plan the development of the Metropolitan region by sketching on a sufficiently large regional canvas. The accumulated problems of the city including the deficits in social and economic infrastructure made it imperative on the part of the authorities to find out locations for providing these facilities. The geography of the island imposes severe limitations on the optimum growth of the city. The uninterrupted growth of the city and the multiplying population are by themselves a major problem. As said by the planning authorities, "Bombay the beautiful is no more beautiful. Many parts of it are not even tolerably clean and healthy. Housing deficits are everwidening and slums, like a cancerous growth, can be seen anywhere and everywhere. Adequate water is a serious problem; transportation is threatening to break down and serious law and order situations develop on the slightest provocation.... In short, the metropolis is slowly falling to pieces and concerted action is necessary to salvage the situation. No doubt, it offers job opportunities to many and a bright future to a dashing entrepreneur. Similarly its contribution to the national income is significant and it is also the biggest centre of specialised services and expertise. But the deterioration in the physical environments in the city has been so great that it seriously jeopardises the healthy growth of these metropolitan functions and in turn threatens the very existence of the city." (Bombay   Metropolitan  Regional Planning Board,  Regional Plan for Bombay Metropolitan Region (1970-91), Vol. I.)

Need for a Regional Plan : The Bombay Municipal Corporation had prepared a Development Plan for Greater Bombay in 1964 which received Government sanction in February 1967. This plan was confined mainly to the problems of Greater Bombay. Concurrently the Government was thinking that a plan continued to the civic limits of Bombay might not be adequate as a full solution to the complex pioblems of the city. The Government therefore appointed a committee under the Chairman­ship of Prof. D. R. Gadgil, a renowned economist and the then Director of Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics, in March 1965 to formu­late broad principles of regional planning for Bombay and Pune metropolitan regions. As a sequel to the Development Plan prepared by the Bombay Municipal Corporation, the Government notified the Borpbay Metropolitan Region, in June 1967, and delimited the area in the region. The Government also appointed a Regional Planning Board in July 1967 for preparing a Regional Plan for the Bombay Metropolitan Region. The enactment of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act of 1966 which aimed at enabling the Government in the preparation and implementation of regional plans on a statutory basis was brought into force from January 1967. In accordance with the provisions of this Act, the Regional Planning Board had been constructed as a multidisciplinary team representing various experts and interests.

The pressing problems of Bombay and certain areas round about received further attention of the Government and the necessity was increasingly felt for forming these areas into a Bombay Metropolitan Region and for setting up an authority for the purpose of planning rapid development of these areas, in which several local authorities were separately dealing with such matters within their jurisdiction. Accordingly the Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority was established under the Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority Act of 1974,(The Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority Act, 1974, was enforced from October 1975.) for the purpose of planning, co-ordinating and supervising the proper, orderly and rapid development of the areas in that Region and of executing plans, projects and schemes for such development, and to provide for matters connected therewith.

The main object of the Authority (to be called B.M.R.D.A. hereafter) is to secure the development of the Bombay Metropolitan Region according to the Regional Plan. It is charged with the function of review of any physical, financial and economical plan or any scheme of development in the Region. It formulates and sanctions schemes for the development of the Region, and executes them on the directions of the State Government. It advises the Government on matters pertaining to the development of the Region and can participate in inter-regional development projects. The B.M.R.D.A. has not only to supervise the development projects but it also may finance any schemes. It has to prepare schemes and advise the concerned authorities in formulating and undertaking schemes for development of agriculture, horticulture, floriculture, forestry, dairy development, poultry farming, cattle breeding, fisheries, etc. It is also required to prepare schemes for rehabilitation of persons displaced by certain projects, and to perform other incidental functions by virtue of its being a superior authority for regional planning.

The Bombay Metropolitan region includes Greater Bombay and parts of Thane and Kulaba (Raigad) districts. Originally stretches from the Arabian sea on the West to the eastern limits of Kalyan and Bhivandi talukas and foothills of the Sahyadri in Karjat taluka and the Tansa river in the North to the Patalganga river in the South were proposed. The Metropolitan region was, however, extended subsequently to include besides Greater Bombay, the areas in Thane, Vasai, Bhivandi, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar, Karjat, Khalapur, Panvel, Uran, Pen and Alibag talukas.

The very core of the Regional Plan is that the problems of Greater Bombay cannot be solved by planning only the development of the city itself, but that the proper solution can be sought by shifting some activity and by developing growth centres outside the city.

However the present study is confined to the planning and development of Greater Bombay only. While it might be necessary to study the problems and remedial measures of the peripheral areas around the city, the present study is limited to the analysis of the problems and the prospects of economic development of Greater Bombay. Even the suggestions by the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Development Board are taken here for purposes of analysis in so far as they refer to Greater Bombay.

PLAN PROPOSALS

I. Demographic and Employment Projections : The trend of growth of population indicates that Bombay which had a population of 0.81 million in the beginning of this century is likely to have a population of over 15 millions by the turn of this century. The actual growth of population from 1901 to 1981 and the projection for 1991 and 2001 are given in the following table :—

Growth and Population Projections for Greater Bombay, 1901 to 2001

The demographic projections for 1971, 1976 and 1981 made earlier by the BMRPB (Bombay Metropolitan Regional Planning Board.)as also by other bodies such as the Gadgil Committee, the Demographic Training and Research Centre, Chembur, the Regional Transport Survey Unit and Messrs. Binnie and Partners, based on different assumptions, proved to be gross imderestimates. The speedy growth of population out-witted all projections. This highly unpredicta­ble and perplexing growth has rendered the job of planners all the more difficult. Perspective planning of the region would therefore have to be elastic so far as population size are concerned.

The labour participation rate (Percentage of the potential working force to the total population.) which reveals the economic characteristics of population was 42.56 per cent in 1961. The study group of the BMRDA has projected the labour participation rate in 1991 at 64.32 per cent for males, 9.24 per cent for females and 41.26 per cent for the total population of Bombay. These projections are also based on certain assumptions which are not undoubtable.

Projection of Factory Employment : The Bombay metropolitan region accounts for about 70 per cent of the total factory employment of Maharashtra. The trend in factory employment in the past and projections for the future are given below:—

FACTORY EMPLOYMENT

(Figures in thousands)

The trend in factory employment given above conspicuously shows that while factory employment rose considerably from 1931 to 1966, the rate of increase was much higher in the rest of the Bombay metro­politan region. Industrial expansion in the Thane-Belapur-Kalwa-Kalyan belt after the sixties is an important factor to be reckoned with. Bombay with all its problems due to concentration of industries is now approaching a stage of saturation. The future growth of industries will therefore have to be diverted to the outskirts. The higher rate of industrialisation and of increase in factory employment in the rest of the metropolitan region than that in Bombay in the future is therefore inevitable.

Projection of Secondary Sector and Tertiary Sector Employment: Since factories constitute only a part of the secondary sector employment, the probable size of the latter can be worked out approximately on the basis of the labour force and the like share of the secondary sector in the occupational pattern.The percentage of the secondary sector employment to total employment was 40.82 in Greater Bombay in 1961. The estimated employment in secondary sector would be 13,94,000 in 1981 and 18,30,000 in 1991 in the metropolitan region.

The rate of growth of tertiary sector employment in Greater Bombay Was 4.4 per cent per year between 1960 and 1965 which increased to about 4.7 per cent per annum between 1966 and 1968. The employment in tertiary sector in Bombay, assuming the continuance of the existing trends of development, would be of the order of 19,18,506.

Change in Occupational pattern of Bombay as a result of Planning : The total labour force in Bombay would increase to 40,46,534 in 1991 on the assumption that the population would increase to 98.07 lakhs and that the existing trends of development are allowed to continue. The employment in secondary sector would be 16,18,400 at the rate of 40 per cent of the labour force. Employment in construction activities which was 2.66 per cent in 1961 may increase to 3 per cent in 1991 and the total employment in construction activity may be to the tune of 1,21,380. The primary sector employment (Employment in agriculture, forestry, fishing, rearing of animals and allied activities.) which was about 1.89 per cent in 1961 may decline to about 1 per cent (bringing the total to 40,460) in 1991 because of the progressively larger accent on non-agricultural occupations within the metropolis and gradual reduction in salt pan areas. The remaining 56 per cent of the total labour force would have to be absorbed in the tertiary sector activities inclusive of transport, trade, commerce, offices as well as domestic services, etc. The size of this employment would be 22,62,760 as against 19,18,506 projected on the basis of previous trends. This means that jobs in the tertiary sector would have to grow at a faster rate.

II. Alternative Patterns for the Future Regional Structure: After considering the pros and cons the authors of the plan thought that the future pattern of the regional urban development would have to be a combination of the measures as under:—

"(i) Immediate internal restructuring (of the metropolis) by the development of alternative commercial centres outside the island city coupled with neighbourhood planning for the suburbs;

(ii) New towns around the existing and projected industrial areas, in the region which have been planned as dispersed work centres. Without township facilities around these centres, the existing and the projected dispersal of industrial areas will not only be ineffective but would have bad effects;

(iii) Orderly development of the Bombay-Poona Linear corridor which has more or less been a fait accompli due to the existing establishment of industrial area in a linear fashion in this corridor. The object here should be to regulate and integrate development; and

(iv) A twin metropolis in the Trans-Thane creek and Trans-Harbour area. The immediate emphasis should be on the twin metropolis."(Bombay  Metropolitan   Regional  Planning Board,   Regional Plan for Bombay Metropolitan Region, 1970-91, Vol. II, pp. 32-33. )

Distribution of Population : The most important question in this respect is about the optimum population size of Bombay. Various committees suggested different sizes of population for the city. The Modak-Mayer Plan of 1948 had suggested ceiling of 31 lakh population for Greater Bombay. The Gadgil Committee, in 1966 suggested a ceiling of 55 lakhs for the whole of Salsette island, while the Development Plan of Greater   Bombay   (1967) was worked out on the  basis  of a population of 70 lakhs by 1981. The Planning Board's Social Planning Study Group has recommended that over a period of 25 to 30 years the island city should be decongested by about 15 to 17 lakhs, and that a population ceiling for Greater Bombay would be around 65 lakhs.

The population ceilings suggested by the Modak-Mayer Plan or the Gadgil Committee however appear quite impossible to implement at this stage though it may be desirable. The Metropolitan Region Plan therefore proposed a optimum of 70 lakh population to be achieved by 1991. (Ibid., pp. 34-35.)

The Plan has suggested physical planning at various locations in the region, as also the orderly development of a Metro Centre in Trans-Thane creek and Trans-Harbour area. The Metro Centre lies on both sides of the Panvel creek, the northern portion between the Thane creek and the Parsik hills, commonly known as Trans-Thane creek area, and the rest of the area is Trans-Harbour area comprising Panvel, Uran and Nhava-Sheva. Planned Development of the Kalyan complex, Kolshet-Balkum complex and a number of other townships has also been sugges­ted for reducing the pressure of population and economic activity in Bombay.

III. Industrial Location Policy : The heavy concentration of industries in Bombay is a well-known fact and has been discussed elsewhere in this chapter. The growth of industries in the Thane-Belapur-Kolshet-Kalyan belt after the sixties can mainly be attributed to the lack of availability of space in Bombay and to other incidental problems. This growth cannot be regarded decentralization or dispersal of industries in the real sense. In fact this industrial belt is a part of the same enlarged agglomeration which becomes obvious from the continuity of the urban mass, complex cross commutation between all the new centres and Bombay, location of the registered offices of the factories in Bombay, common sources of water, etc. The expansion in these areas is therefore more of a peripheral outgrowth of special expansion than dispersal. At the most this can be regarded as the first step towards decentralisation of industries in Bombay.

It may be necessary to have a major industrial zone in the Trans-Harbour area for port-based industries and for the proposed metro centre around Nhava-Sheva, so as to provide a good industrial employment to the population. An industrial area of about 1,500 hectares seems to be indicated at this location. Deliberate attempts would be necessary to infuse industries along the Bombay-Agra road (in Bhiwandi Taluka) and in the Vasai taluka to achieve a balanced development within the region. An area of 200 hectares each at both these locations has been suggested in the first instance. The industrial area in Vasai taluka may be located between the Ahmedabad road and the Western Railway within easy walking distance from the stations. An area of about 100 hectares for the development of ancillary industries around Hindustan Organic Chemicals at Apte may also be necessary. With these additions the total area of industrial zones in the region would be around 14,950 hectares. Incidentally, a curtailment of about 800 hectares in the industrial area in Greater Bombay is possible. It is also suggested in the Regional Plan that, " Beyond the above, no further additions to the industrial zones should be made as it would amount to excess zoning for industries which will not be required under any conditions."

After the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Plan came into effect, the Maharashtra Government announced a new policy in January 1975, for location of industries in the Bombay Metropolitan Region. The objective of the new policy is dispersal of industries and to improve the quality of civic life in the region. The salient features of the new policy are given below :

The Metropolitan Region is divided into four zones as follows:—
Zone I : Bombay Island excluding Wadala-Anik industrial aiea.
Zone II : Wadala-Anik area, all suburbs of Greater Bombay, Thane and Mira.
Zone III: New Bombay area.
Zone IV: Remaining area in the Metropolitan region.

It is stipulated that establishment of any new industries large, medium or small scale, or expansion of existing industries would not be allowed in Zone I. An exception could be made only in the case of essential service industries. Zone II is also closed for new large or medium-scale units, while marginal expansion of the existing textile mills, subject to approval of.a High Power Committee, would be permitted. Small-scale industries having an investment in plant and machinery not exceeding Rs. 7.5 lakhs would be allowed in the approved and earmarked industrial areas and industrial estates in Zone II under certain conditions. Expansion of such units in the future would not be allowed. However, factories approved by the Government of India which might be set up in the Electronics Export Processing Zone at Marol may be permitted in view of their importance as export-oriented industries.

New large, medium and small-scale units would be allowed only in the industrial areas at Trans-Thane creek and Taloja which are being developed by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation in Zone III, and also in the Industrial aiea to be developed near Nhava-Sheva. A preference would be given to export-oriented and import-substitution industries. The rest of Zone III would be earmarked for residential purposes.

As regards Zone IV, new large and medium industries would be permitted in Zone IV only in the existing and proposed industrial areas of the M.I.D.C. at Kalyan, Bhivandi, Dombivli, Kalwa, Ambarnath, Apte-Turade, and Vasai. Small-scale factories would also be allowed in areas earmarked for industrial use by the concerned local authorities in conformity with the Regional Plan.

With a view to giving further impetus to dispersal of industries away from the congested Bombay Metropolitan Region, Government has withdrawn certain incentives which were formerly available to certain areas in the region under the package scheme. It is envisaged that areas earmarked for industrial use in Greater Bombay would be reduced by at least 400 hectares. Any land available from shifting of industries would be utilised for housing for public welfare. Government is also considering the question of imposition of a levy on the existing and new industries in the region so as to mobilise finances for incentives to factories to shift from Zones I and II to Zones III and IV and to other areas in Maharashtra.

IV. Transport and Communications : The uninterrupted economic growth of Bombay and the surrounding areas has put a heavy strain on the arteries of transport from and within the city. The physicalf eatures of the countryside also impose a severe limitation on passenger and goods transport from and to the metropolis. A number of schemes in this respect have been taken up while many others are proposed.

Wilbur Smith and Associates, an American firm of traffic consultants, conducted a study on future transportation needs of Greater Bombay, in 1962-63. They recommended a phased programme for the development of a system of free-ways, express-ways and improved arterial streets, then estimated to cost Rs. 96 crores. Intensive operational improvements to the existing roads have also been suggested for removal of deficiencies. They emphasised the need for restrictions on parking and slow moving traffic and for construction of pedestrian safety fences. Several measures have also been suggested for maximum utilisation of the capacity of existing roadways. The Wilbur Smith Plan proposed that the Bombay Island be encircled by free-ways and bifurcated by an expressway so that all points of the island would be within one mile of a free-ways or an expressway. In all 28 miles of free-ways, 14 miles of express-ways and 75 miles of major route improvements were recommended in the plan to be completed.

Subsequent to the submission of the Wilbur Smith Plan in 1963 a number of changes took place. These changes included considerations of a land use plan for Bombay, establishment of the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, formulation of a Mass Rapid Transit System, etc. It was therefore necessary to have reappraisal of the Bombay Road. (Draft Annual Plan for Greater Bombay, 1978-79, District Planning and Development Council.)

Development Plan and to integrate it with the plan for Mass Rapid Transit System proposed by the Railway authorities. In the meanwhile, preparation of projects as recommended by Wilbur Smith and Associates is going ahead particularly in respect of Link roads connecting the Western suburbs with the Eastern suburbs. (Draft Annual Plan for Greater Bombay, 1978-79, District Planning and Develop­ment Council.) Their recommendations are detailed below:

Free-way System : (i) The West Island Free-way will connect the south poition of the central business district with northern suburbs, along the west side of Bombay Island. It will pass through Malabar Hill for a total length of 10.32 miles and will cost about Rs. 24 crores.

(ii) The East Island Free-way will afford easy transport between Byculla and the northern suburbs. It will be 8.91 miles and will cost Rs. 33 crores.

(iii) The Cross Island Free-way will connect the west and east island free-ways. With a length of about 4,200 feet, it will cost Rs. 4.9 crores.

(iv) The Eastern and Western Express-ways are proposed to be upgraded to free-way standard.

Express-way System : (i) The Central Island Express-way is proposed to extend fiom the north of Opera House area upto the Eastern Express­way passing through Haji Ali and Dadar and crossing the east island free-ways.

(ii) The Tardeo Express-way, 0.68 miles long, is proposed to connect the West Island Free-way with the Central Island Express-way.

They also proposed the improvement of 25 major roads which are estimated to cost about Rs. 18 crores.

In partial modification of the Wilbur Smith Plan the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Plan suggested that (1) The Bandra-Kurla reclamation may be taken up on a priority basis for creating an alternative commercial centre; (2) The commercial zone in Backbay Reclamation should be restricted to 20 per cent of the scheme area; and (3) a metrocentre may be developed in Uran-Nhava-Belapur belt which together would considerably reduce the pressure on Bombay island.

The construction of the Eastern Express highway, the Western Express highway and the Thane creek bridge are important landmarks in the economic life of Bombay. The express highways have eased the problem of traffic congestion on the Bombay-Agra road and the Ghodbunder road both of which suffer from bottlenecks at se\eral places and traverse the industrial and residential localities in the suburbs for long distances. They have also facilitated through traffic to the hinterland and the up-country. The Thane creek bridge on the Sion-Panvel read is one of the most important measures for solving the transport problems of the metropolitan region. It has not only reduced the travelling distance from and to Bombay, but also has ensured very speedy and safe motoring.

Another most important proposal for communication between Bombay and its wide hinterland is the provision of a new railway ghat to cross the Sahyadri ranges so as to link Bombay with the Daund-Manmad railway route via Kalyan. The two existing ghat routes of the Central Railway have to climb the plateau over steep ruling gradients which limits the load and speedy movement of trains. This has restricted the line capacity of the two trunk routes. The Central Railway is striving to increase the line capacity by pressing into service heavier electric locomotives which carry heavier load by over 30 per cent at better speed. This increase in capacity has also been absorbed by uninterrupted growth in traffic. It has therefore been suggested by the Planning authorities that the only way of breaking the bottleneck of inter-city goods and passenger transport for the region is the construction of a ' third ' ghat route connecting Kalyan to a convenient location on the Daund-Manmad section between Ahmadnagar and Rahuri. The initial estimate for its construction was put at Rs. 40 to 50 crores.

The study team of the Railways, however, recommended the construction of the one additional line each in the North-East and South-East Ghat sections, of the Central Railway. The estimated cost of the additional line on the North-East Ghat is Rs. 17.50 crores and that on the South East Ghat is Rs. 21.75 crores. (Information from Central Railway (October 1977).)The work on the construction of the additional line on the North-East Ghat (Thal Ghat) was completed on 12th Aqril 1982, This line runs almost parallel to the existing line from Kasara to Igatpuri.

New Satellite Port at Nhava-Sheva : The transportation of merchandise to and from Bombay to the countryside has become very difficult as the present capacity of the Docks in Bombay is totally saturated. There appears therefore no alternative to set up a new satellite port at Nhava-Sheva on the mainland across the Bombay harbour. It will considerably divert a bulk of the cargo traffic with mainland destination directly into the mainland by-passing the congested routes in Bombay. The new port may initially handle bulk cargo and may be designed for its ultimate functioning as an independent port to handle all types of traffic.

Airport : Bombay is an international airport. However, the operational space available within the airport premises was insufficient to meet the needs of the growing domestic and international flights. It was therefore proposed by experts and the planning authorities that the present airport at Santacruz may be utilized for domestic air services, while a suitable site may be developed for an international airport. Alternative sites at Gorai-Manori and Mandva-Revas were under consideration. The former is within the Bombay Metropolitan Region while the latter is outside the region. Meanwhile the international airport was constructed at Sahar to the north of the Santacruz airport.

Railways : The Central Railway line in Bombay was constructed in 1853 while the Western Railway was opened section by section between November 1864 and January 1870. The quadrupling of the lines was done subsequently, but no major investments have been made in recent years. The Central Railway operates suburban trains upto Kasara 120 km. north-east of Victoria Terminus and upto Karjat 100 km. on the south-east line, besides the services on the Harbour branch upto Mankhurd and Bandra. The Central Railway runs 908 suburban trains daily and carries about 2.3 million passengers daily in 1983-84, Besides the suburban trains traffic which is unimaginably tremendous even by international standards, it runs a number of passenger trains as well as goods trains on its trunk routes to Howrah-via-Nagpur, Howrah-via-Allahabad, the Punjab area, Madras, etc. The Western Railway operates suburban trains from Churchgate to Virar, a distance of 56 km. and runs 745 trains and carries about 22 lakh passengers daily. It runs passenger and goods trains on the trunk railway route from Bombay to Jammu Tawi on the north, to Viramgaon in Gujarat and to various parts of Rajastan.

The capacities of both the railways in Bombay suburban section have been saturated, and there is not much scope for further increase in the utilization of the lines. The railways had estimated in. the seventies that it would be necessary to invest about Rs. 60 crores to increase the suburban surface transportation capacity by about 50 per cent. In the nature of things this would appear to be a gross underestimate as the prices  have multiplied and   the extent of the problem has increased immensely. As things stand at present commuters have to travel in local trains under the most oppressive conditions and with frayed tempers. Travelling at peak hours is an ordeal which with a little bit of breakdown in services creates chaos, leading to economic loss to the community and also to law and order problems.

One of the major difficulties in increasing the frequency of suburban trains on the Central Railway is the bottleneck between Masjid Bunder and Victoria Terminus, where due to steep curves and several cross-overs speed has to be restricted. It is necessary to remodel the yard at Victoria Terminus so as to speed up trains. The straightening of the curves may require the space occupied by the platforms to be brought in the circulation area, and the platforms may have to be re-designed.

The Railway Board has constructed a new link between Central and Western Railway, to by-pass the mainland destined goods traffic from Diva to Vasai. With the completion of this new link in April 1983 the goods yard between Dadar and Parel has become redundant and the area is now available for other uses. It is suggested by some authorities that this area could be utilised for re-locating the mainline terminus of the Central Railway from V.T. If the main line terminus is thus shifted, remodelling of the yard at V.T. can easily be done.

Some experts in transportation planning have made another suggestion that the through trains terminus of the Central Railway at V.T. and of the Western Railway at Bombay Central may be shifted to the site between Sion-Dharavi and Bandra. They have also suggested that there should be a single terminus for through trains on both the railways at this new site. This will considerably reduce the pressure on the railway lines from Sion to V.T. and from Mahim to Bombay Central, and will release a lot of capacity for introduction of additional suburban trains. The railway yards at V.T. and Bombay Central will be available for restructuring so as to facilitate improvement in suburban trains operations. This measure will also facilitate the convenience of passengers who want to change over from Central to Western Railway and vice versa. The proposal is also plausible on account of another important factor that the land proposed for the site is comparatively free at present, and the cost of rehabilitation of the slum dwellers in the locality will not be large.

Some other authorities have suggested a third terminal for suburban railway at Ballard Estate. It is put forth that utility of the additional corridors of traffic as the possible augmentation of capacity along the existing railway corridors terminating at V.T. and Churchgate will be of a limited order. Hence it may be necessary to provide for a new passenger line in the eastern sector of the metropolitan area along with a third terminal to provide some relief. The terminal is proposed to be located in Ballard Estate near the Mole station. The existing railway lines from Wadala to Ballard Estate via the double line tracks of the Port Trust could be the possible alignment for such a railway line. It is also believed that this terminal would ease the heavy traffic congestion on roads in the vicinity of V.T.

Some persons have advocated that in lieu of a third terminal at Ballard Estate better results would be obtained by joining V.T. to Churchgate and simultaneously removing the bottlenecks between V. T. and Masjid. It is suggested that if both these are done more trains could be run on the Central Railway, and in fact there would be no terminal station as trains will pass through both Victoria Terminus and Churchgate. It is believed that the advantage of this proposal is that pedestrian congestion of commuters from both the railway termini on the roads near V.T. and Churchgate would be avoided to a great extent. This would also reduce the demand on bus and taxi traffic by the commuters alighting at the railway termini.

A separate study has been done by the Metropolitan Transport Project (Railways) (Information from Central Railway (October 1977).)for an additional corridor between Fort Market and Goregaon which is estimated to involve an investment of Rs. 154 crores. This is proposed to be an underground corridor with a terminal near Fort Market. It is also envisaged to provide an additional pair of railway lines between Bhandup and Kurla as an extension of the present Harbour Branch line.

The limitations of the Bombay V.T. yard deny a scope for handling of longer trains of more than 12 bogies. The Central Railway has therefore developed the Mazagaon yard as an auxiliary yard to deal with longer trains. The work of remodelling of the Mazagaon yard is being undertaken phase-wise. Some portion of the remodelling work is completed while some more phases are being undertaken. The total estimated cost of remodelling the Mazagaon yard is Rs. 1.02 crores.(Information from Central Railway (October 1977).)

With an immense growth of industries in the Mulund-Thane areas it is felt essential to have a goods shed in the area. The railway authorities have therefore taken up the development of a goods terminal at Mulund, at an estimated cost of Rs. 1.41 crores. A part of the work in the first phase has been completed, and the goods shed is now open for inward traffic of certain commodities like iron and steel. (Information from Central Railway (October 1977).)

The other proposals in the Regional Plan which are not discussed above are outlined below.

Inter-Regional Transport Railways : There were two alternate propo­sals for providing a link between the Central Railway and the Western Railway, viz., (1) link between Diva and Vasai, and (ii) between Diva and Vangaon, further north beyond the regional boundary. Both the links would be equally good so far as the necessity of serving the growing indus­trial town of Bhiwandi is concerned. The Diva-Vangaon link was however conceived to yield a better advantage of opening out large under-developed areas in Palghar and Dahanu talukas. The cost of construction of the Diva-Vangaon link was definitely going to be much higher than the Diva-Vasai link, because of longer distance and engineering hazards. The Diva-Vangaon link also showed a relatively lower benefit-cost ratio than that shown by the Diva-Vasai alternative. The railway authorities after consi­dering the various pros, and cons have opted for the Diva-Vasai link, and the work on the construction of the same is completed. It was estimated to cost about Rs. 24.3 crores.(Information from Central Railway (October 1977).) This link is highly advantageous from another point of view as it directly joins the Western Railway route with the Bombay-Konkan-Cochin railway line emanating from Diva which has already been undertaken and a part of which is already under operation.

A part of the Bombay-Konkan-Cochin railway line from Diva to Apta and Panvel to Uran is already under operation and is serving the needs of a part of the Bombay Metropolitan Regior. The work of construction of the section of the Konkan Railway from Apta to Roha has been started recently (April 1978). This railway route will further develop the environs of Bombay besides Konkan region.

The Regional Plan has also proposed the construction of a railway line from Kurla to Karjat which will shorten the distance from Bombay to Pune and will serve the needs of the metropolitan region. This line will meet the industrial and commuter traffic requirements of the Trans- Thane creek area as well.

Roads : The Bombay Metropolitan Regional Plan suggested a number of new roads, bridges and by-passes to meet the pressing needs of transport from and to Greater Bombay and the Metropolitan region. The important of the proposed projects include construction of new bridges across the Thane creek to the north of the newly constructed magnificent bridge near Washi, a new bridge across the Panvel creek in continuation of Thane-Belapur road and an additional bridge from Bombay to the mainland area to its east. Two alternatives in this respect have been suggested, viz., a bridge from Pir Pau to Elephanta and Nhava or a bridge or tunnel from Gateway of India to Uran.

The Regional Plan however accorded priority to the Panvel creek bridge because it coupled with the Thane creek bridge would shorten the distance from Bombay to the metro centre.

The Kasheli bridge on Bombay-Agra road and the bridge on the Bombay-Pune road near Thane which cater to the heavy traffic from Bombay to the rest of the country are due for immediate reconstruction. Diversion of major thorough-fares through Bhiwandi and Kalyan and the by-pass to Kalyan to provide a direct link from the Atale-Shahad and Ambarnath industrial areas to the existing Bombay-Pune road have also been suggested.

Mass Transportation : Mass transportation services in Bombay are provided by suburban trains and BEST buses. The suburban trains carried over 21 lakh passengers, while BEST buses about 20 lakh passengers daily in 1968. The acuteness of the traffic problem of Bombay can be judged from the fact that the number of passengers carried in BEST buses increas­ed from 907.26 lakhs in 1972-73 to 991.95 lakhs in 1973-74, to 1016.74 lakhs in 1974-75, to 1084.95 lakhs in 1975-76 and to 1202.99 lakhs in 1976-77 and 13,367.82 lakhs in 1983-84. The number of buses in the BEST fleet was 1,402 in 1972-73, 1,478 in 1973-74,1,530 in 1974-75,1,639 in 1975-76,1667 in 1976-77 and 2,325 in 1983-84.(BEST Undertaking, Administration Report, 1976-77.)

According to a survey by the traffic cell of the Town Planning Depart­ment of the State Government in 1968, the number of persons, trips made by the residents of the surveyed area on an average week-day by using different modes of transport was 47,20,611 of which 38,11,815 or 79 per cent were made by modes of public transport (about 39 per cent each by suburban trains and BEST buses). It is estimated that with the present rate of population growth the number of transit trips by media of public transport would increase from 38,11,815 in 1968 to 60,82,273 in 1981. The passenger traffic on the suburban trains of the Central Railway increased by 163 per cent from 1950-51 to 1966-67 while that on the Western Railway increased by 154 per cent. The increase in the number of trains was however very meagre on the Central Railway viz., 31 per cent, and 117 per cent on the Western Railway during the period 1950-51 to 1966-67. The growth in traffic by buses from 1947-48 to 1967-68 was about 800 per cent while the bus fleet increased to a much smaller extent.

A survey of commuters was taken by counting the commuters at the gates of Victoria Terminus and Churchgate stations in July 1967. The survey revealed that during the morning peak hours as many as 84,000 commuters alighted at Bombay V.T. alone. It was also found that about the same number of commuters boarded the local trains in the evening peak hours at Bombay V.T. The mrmber of commuters alighting at Churchgate in the morning peak hours was about 83,000,while almost an equal number boarded the trains during the evening peak hours.

The statistics of commuter traffic on the stations of the Central Railway, given below, show the formidability of the transport problem of Bombay. The volume of commuter traffic shows a fast and continuously rising trend from 1970 to 1976. There was a significant increase of traffic at every railway station. Prima facie it appears that the rate of increase in commuter traffic was higher than that of population growth. The railway stations are given in the descending order of the volume of traffic in 1976.

STATEMENT No. 18
COMPARATIVE FIGURES SHOWING DAILY AVERAGE NUMBER OF SUBURBAN PASSENGER TRAFFIC HANDLED AT EACH STATION ON BOMBAY DIVISION.

Note.—Figures include both outgoing and incoming traffic of season tickets and card tickets.
Source—Information from Central Railway (October 1977).

In spite of the efforts of railway authorities, travel in suburban trains at peak hours is hazardous as the trains are heavily crowded. The authorities introduced nine coach trains, and also increased some trains from time to time. A number of new coaches have also been pressed into services. The Western Railway completed the important project of quadrupling the operational lines between Churchgate and Grant Road. This increased the operational capacity of the railway as more trains could be pressed into operation. All these measures provided a temporary relief. But the entire problem is so formidable that it may really be difficult to evolve ready solutions.

In order to meet the requirements of increasing suburban commuter traffic, the Central Railway is planning to increase the frequency of train services from the present 6" to 5" and ultimately to 3" in the peak periods on all the three corridors, viz., through lines, local main lines and harbour branch lines. The work on the first phase for introduction of 5" service has been sanctioned by the Railway Board, and some portion of the work was to be completed by 1978. This involved mainly respacing of signals, modifications in level crossings, elimination of certain level crossings, construction of a new maintenance car shed at Kalwa for E.M.U. (Electrical Multiple Unit) coaches and acquisition of more E.M.U. rakes.

As a measure of optimisation of suburban services certain proposals were also under consideration of the Railways. These proposals included, (a) remodelling of suburban platforms at Bombay V.T. for double discharge facilities, similar to Churchgate Station, and speedier outlet through the suburban concourse; and (b) doubling of the Chembur-Mankhurd single line section (4 kilometres) which will facilitate an increase in the number of trains on Chembur-Mankhurd section.(Work completed on 29th June 1980.)

The Regional Plan for Bombay Metropolitan Region has suggested various measures for augmentation of commuter travel facilities within the metropolitan area some of which are summarised below:—

(i) Reassessment of programme suggested by Wilbur Smith and Associates and carrying out that of the programme which is essential to relieve congestion.
(ii) Quadruplication of railway tracks in Borivli-Virar section and sections beyond Kalyan on the Central Railway. (Quadruplication of Churchgate-Grant Road section has already been completed.)
(iii) Introduction of twelve coach trains on the Central Railway and related improvements.
(iv) Improvement in frequency of trains by various measures.
(v) Provision of a third railway terminal at Ballard Estate or alter­nately joining Bombay V.T. and Churchgate by an underground railway.
(vi) Shifting of Central Railway's through trains terminus from V.T. to a suitable site between Dadar and Parel.
(vii) Feasibility studies for the underground railway and develop­ment of one additional traffic corridor for mass transportation to serve immediate needs.
(viii) Augmentation of the bus transport capacity by adding higher capacity buses to the fleet and by increasing number of buses, depots and workshops.

Mr. J. B. D'Souza and Mr. C. D. Jefferis ( Bombay Civic Trust, Bombay Development and Master Plan, 1970.)made very valuable sugges­tions towards creation of a metropolitan transport authority for improve­ment in transport services. They wrote, " The situation and the prospect clearly demand an immediate and sustained effort towards optimising the use of all the transport resources available so as to meet the needs of citizens to the maximum. High on the list of resources for conservation and careful use, higher, in fact, than vehicles and rolling stock, are good space and rail track length, both of which will probably turn out to be the scarcest of all scare resources in 15 years' time. For this, not only will we need to free our roads from want on encroachment by petty shop-keepers and hawkers, from misuse of by reckless drivers who use up more than their fair share of road space. We will also have to strive to minimise road use by the most careful planning of bus routes and schedules and train schedules, a close co-ordination between train and bus services so that they dovetail into one another instead of competing. Co-ordination and planning of this kind can hardly be achieved by a set of separate authorities such as we now have, even if one were able to bring them together periodically in meetings for this purpose. Nothing less than a permanent Metropolitan Transport Authority, with control over suburban trains, buses, trucks and other vehicles, with responsibility for operation of public transport (trains, buses, etc.) for road mainte­nance and use, traffic and vehicle taxation and with influence over land use planning, especially the location of housing industry etc. can possibly deal with a problem of such scarcity and therefore of such size."

Mr. J. B. D'Souza and Mr. Jefferis ( Bombay Civic Trust, Bombay Development and Master Plan, 1970.) further advocated for population planning and land use controls. They said, " the influx of the people has been phenomenal, and the speed with which many of the newcomers have established themselves higgledy-piggledy in hideous squatters' colonies wherever space could be found, has made nonsense of whatever city planning has been done." They also very aptly said that the limitless population growth that such cancerous developments make possible, as also the random location of such squatters' colonies, coupled with their very high population density, impose unforeseen burdens on thetransport system, and make transport planning impossible. Hence, the necessity of population planning.

" There is every reason to believe, however, that the development of a sister city on the mainland across the harbour will accomplish this. It is an objective that must be promoted with the utmost speed and vigour, if the headlong population growth we now see in the city is not to produce a total strangulation of the transport system, reduce the level of commercial aad other activities in the city and ultimately produce a blight."

"......................... We   should refrain from disastrous courses  like the reclamation of the Backbay area, and particularly the assignment of a large part of it to heavy traffic-generating commercial use."

" Such development would generate substantial volumes of new traffic as there is bound to be a very large addition to the total employment in the Fort area. It is expected that the development of the Backbay Reclamation area alone may create about one lakh new jobs. Most of these employees would be using the already overcrowded mass transportation services. Past experience shows that commercial areas generate far higher amount of traffic than any other urban land use. This will be particularly so when the proposed new commercial area on the Reclamation programme will be contiguous to the central business district of Bombay."

" The Backbay plans are an incredible essay in deliberate worsening of an already critical situation. They will involve an enormous outlay of the funds of Government and the community in the creation of problems for which enormously greater funds will be needed to solve."( Bombay Civic Trust, Bombay Development and Master Plan, 1970.)

Many other authorities and knowledgeable citizens have expressed similar opinions about the traffic problem of Bombay and the Backbay Reclamation scheme. The Bombay Municipal Corporation has also requested the Government to abandon the scheme as it would put an unbearable strain on the civic services which are already inadequate to meet the existing demand. While many bodies and experts have stoutly advised to abandon the entire scheme, some others have suggested a number of modifications as regards the extent of land to be reclaimed and the pattern of utilization of the land. It is however not the objective of this study to probe into the desirability or otherwise of the scheme.

PLAN IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

The Gadgil Committee in its report to Government (1966) emphasised the necessity of setting up an adequate authority for implementation of regional development proposals. It was proposed that the regionaldevelopment authority should supplement and not supersede existing authorities. The Gadgil Committee observed as under : " It is clear that the regional planning and development corporation cannot and is not intended to take over the developmental activity of the authorities in the region. Its principal function would be to work out a frame of general policy related to the needs of the region as a whole in which development plans of the local authorities are fitted in a co-ordinated manner. To give substance to its policy it will be necessary for the regional corporation to undertake a series of planned major works....."

While broadly accepting the Gadgil Committee's report, the organisa­tional set-up envisaged under the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act of 1966 was somewhat different. The Plan implementation authority was called New Town Development Authority with the object of laying out the development of a new town. The authority was autho­rised to acquire, hold, manage and dispose of lands and other property, to carry out building and other operations, to provide water, electricity, sewerage and other services, and generally to do anything necessary for the cause of the new town.

Subsequently Government constituted the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) for the implementation of the Metro Centre development programme. The object of this body is to create a New Bombay city to reduce the pressure on Greater Bombay by developing an attractive area on the land across the harbour. The planned New Bombay city, also called the Twin city in common parlance, is expected to absorb immigrants as well as some of the existing population of Bombay. While it will take a long time to develop the plan and a still longer time to implement it, some steps have been taken which may help to some extent. A big housing estate has been constructed at Vashi to provide accommodation for about 50,000 persons, with modern amenities. (Details of the development programme of the CIDCO which refer to the reduction in pressure on Bombay are given elsewhere in this chapter.)

After some experimental measures the State Government constituted the Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority for the pur­pose of planning, co-ordinating and supervising the proper, orderly and rapid development of Greater Bombay and the other areas within the defined region. The Metropolitan Authority also called BMRDA, is a corporate body with very wide powers and executive functions. It consists of many ministers of Maharashtra, the Mayor of Bombay, the presidents of Thane and Raigad Zilla Parishads, presidents of municipal councils in the area and many other officials and non-officials. The official machinery of the BMRDA is headed by a Metropolitan Commissioner. The  powers   and  functions   of  the BMRDA which are already mentioned earlier are quite onerous. The BMRDA is empowered to give directions with regard to the formulation and implementation of any development project or scheme, and it may also under-take any development work in accordance with the Regional Plan It is also endowed with financial powers including taxation, betterment, levies, etc. It excercises all its powers and performs the duties under the Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority Act in accordance with the policy guidelines from the State Government.

BANDRA-KURLA COMPLEX

The high rate of population of Bombay as a result of the post-war industrialisation, urbanisation and the influx of displaced persons from Pakistan, made it imperative on the part of the authorities to appoint various committees and study groups. These committees and study groups suggested several measures to deal with the situation. The Modak Mayer Plan Report (1948) suggested stoppage of further activities in the Island and open up areas immediately to the north of the Island. It had made a specific reference to the development of lands in the Bandra-Kurla area. The Barve Study Report (1958) also had recommen­ded establishment of another new centre of activity in the Bandra-Kurla area, somewhat on the lines of Connought Circle in New Delhi, to help decongestion of the Island. The Bombay Development Plan (1964) had also provided for the development of low lying areas in Bandra Kurla for a commercial complex.

The Gadgil Committee (1965) under Chairmanship of Prof. D. R. Gadgil, the noted economist, highlighted the need for overall regional planning, and recommended inter alia, the reduction of concentration of economic activity in Bombay, decentralisation of industries and urgent development of the main land in the environs of Bombay. Accordingly the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Planning Board was set up in 1967. A draft Regional Plan was prepared by this organisation in 1970, which recommended among many other measures, freezing of office and commercial employment in South Bombay, limitation of population of Bombay to seven millions, development of new growth centres like New Bombay, Kalyan complex, etc., to absorb most of the new growth in population and tertiary sector jobs. This Regional Plan was sanctioned by the Maharashtra Government in 1973, and as a follow-up measure the CIDCO took up planning and development of New Bombay as a counter-magnet to Bombay. The Government also set up the Bombay Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (BMRDA) in March 1975 as a planning, co-ordinating and development financing agency to achieve the objectives of the Plan. The Regional Plan (1970-91) also highlighted the need for certain amount of internal restructuring within the Greater Bombay area itself, particularly to bring about a redistribution of the population as between the city and the suburbs. The Plan focussed mainly on the importance of develop­ment of an alternative commercial complex in Bandra-Kurla area aimed at arresting the further growth of tertiary sector employment in South Bombay. This is the genesis of the Bandra-Kurla complex.

About 40 years ago, a large area of open land was available in the Bandra-Kurla complex. However, the unco-ordinated reclamations and encroachments on the periphery in the subsequent period gave rise to adverse environmental conditions besides the loss of area on account of encroachments. In order to avoid haphazard growth and to promote orderly development the Maharashtra Government appointed the BMRDA as a special planning authority for this complex in 1977.

The BMRDA has planned a strategy for the development of this complex on a priority basis. As this is one of the most prestigeous programmes of the BMRDA, it would be of great interest to give an account of the planning strategy for this complex. The strategy is based on the following considerations:—

(i) Restructuring of the city's pattern of future development by attracting a large number of offices, wholesale trade activity and godowns in order to decongest South Bombay and to relieve the pressure on the transportation system.
(ii) Make up the deficiencies in social, cultural and shopping facilities in the surrounding areas by providing space for these.
(iii) Improvement of the environmental conditions by channelizing the creeks and providing sufficient parks and gardens, besides ensuring orderly development in the commercial and residential areas in the complex itself.
(iv) Redevelopment of the existing slums in the Dharavi area on the southern side by providing additional new land for serving as transit camp area which would be finally used for residential purposes. Any success in this regard is bound to improve the environment to a large extent.
(v) Development of the area on the basis of a financially self-generating scheme in suitable phases.

This would involve formulation of a proper land use and transporta­tion plan linking the various existing corridors of transport. A suitable balance between the residential and commercial use and exploitation of the aesthetic, architectural and environmental aspects of the situation has to be aimed at. The strategy about the Bandra-Kurla complex serving as a tool for restricting some of the activities in South Bombay would require pursuance of suitable policies like controlling further inflow of offices and other jobs in South Bombay. This would also involve co-ordinated efforts of all the concerned organizations. Simul­taneously, urgent actions are also being taken for the development of other major growth centres like Kalyan complex, New Bombay and Mira-Bhayaader areas to ensure that the development of the Bandra-Kurla complex is not undertaken in isolation and that there are simul­taneous efforts at decentralization and dispersal. The development of Bandra-Kurla complex is aimed at restructuring Greater Bombay on the principles of town planning.

With the development of the Bandra-Kurla complex as planned, bulk of the jobs would be decentralized by way of shifting the wholesale textile markets and the ancillary activities, like godowns, commission agents from B and C Wards of Bombay Island. This will greatly help in de-congesting that area. Suitable action is initiated on ensuring that the shift actually takes place and that this does not result into coming up of an addi­tional market. Action is also initiated on utilizing the vacated premises for alternative purposes like retail shopping, public utilities, open spaces, schools, etc. Simultaneously, BMRDA has already restricted construction or creation of any new office premises or wholesale establishments in the Bombay Island. Incidentally, the wholesale markets in iron and steel and agricultural produce are also proposed to be shifted to New Bombay.

"It is expected that after completing the proposed channelization and the reclamation, not only the flooding situation but the environment in the area will also considerably improve. Salinity of the water will increase during dry season which will reduce the mosquito nuisance. The increased tidal influx will also enable relatively more dilution of whatever pollutants still find their way into the creek. The area would be turned into a sea water lake. The water in this basin caii be replenished by discharging into the sea at low tides and taking fresh water at high tides with the help of the gates periodically. This will enable the creek area, presently having offensive smell and a filthy appearance, to be kept always under sufficient depth of water abating most of the nuisance. This basin can then be flushed as often as required by a small dredger to stir the muck accumulation; the same can eventually be got rid off completely. The basin and its environ can then become places of recrea­tion, for example, a large lake for boating, with a 15-m wide water-front wooded promenade.

" Thus, the work of channelization which enables further reclamation and development provides an engineering challenge as well as opportunity for internal restructuring of the city's development pattern and improving the environment and ecology of the area. The entire project is not only self-financing but will yield a substantial surplus by disposal of developed plots." (Mr. N. V. Merani, BMRDA, Bandra-Kurla Complex (pamphlet, 1980).)

NHAVA-SHEVA PROJECT

The Union Government has waved the greert signal to the Nhava-Sheva port project (1982). The idea of this port across the Bombay harbour was first mooted two decades ago. The cost estimate of the project has soared from Rs. 50 crores to nearly Rs. 600 crores, A total provision of barely Rs. 13 crores has been made in the Sixth Plan for this project. The project is of national importance, although the Maharashtra Government and the Bombay Port Trust have more than ordinary interest in it. The twin city project, which has yet to show signs of progress, will get a powerful fillip once the satellite port gets going. Indeed, a vast area surrounding the Nhava-Sheva site is readily available for the development of a wide range of port-based industries and trading activities, including a free trade zone. The State Government is addressing itself to the problem of exploiting this opportunity for reducing the pressure on Bombay. The project is designed to handle, among other things, the burgeoning container traffic as also bulk cargo traffic, which cannot be easily catered to by Bombay Port with its limited back-up space and other deficiencies, Experience has shown beyond doubt that Bombay Port cannot easily accommodate vessels requiring a draft in excess of about 28 feet. This is because in the wake of the intensive utilisation of berths dredging on a sustained basis has become difficult, if not impossible. With berth occupancy reaching a very high level of 90 per cent or so as against the desirable optimum of 65 to 75 per cent, it is not surprising that congestion has become a chronic problem and demurrage and the loss of shipdays have been haunting shippers and shipowners alike. It is good to note that the Government has envisaged the setting up of a committee of secretaries to the departments concerned to expedite decision-making and to monitor the progress of work on the project.

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DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR GREATER BOMBAY (BOMBAY MUNICIPAL CORPORATION PLAN)

Planning of the development of Bombay was sought to be done from time to time by the Municipal Corporation and the State Government. The earliest effort in this direction was initiated in 1888 under the Building Regulations in the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act of 1888. During the subsequent period many enactments were enforced for controlling the development of the city. Most of these measures were however in the direction of town planning, and they lacked in many respects. They were not enough for planning the development of a metropolitan city and the commercial capital of India. An outline of a Master Plan for Greater Bombay was prepared for the first time in 1948 by the Bombay Municipal Corporation. It had however no legal validity and it did not conform to the pattern of a detailed plan as envisaged by the Bombay Town Planning Act of 1954.

The Municipal Corporation therefore prepared a comprehensive Development Plan for a Greater Bombay in 1964 which was sanctioned by Government in 1967. As stated in the draft plan itself, it was prepared in accordance with "the general planning ideals and principles with such modifications as may be necessary to prevent large scale dislocation, and undue hardships to people." The main objectives could be summarised as follows:—

(1) To protect the best character of the existing character of Bombay, to develop its structure and to remedy several defects.

(2)To encourage housing activities in the suburban areas with a view to reduce congestion in the city.

(3)Dispersal of population to the suburbs and decentralisation of industries and commerce from the city with the twin object of redeveloping the congested areas in the city as dso to ease the transport problem.

(4)Discouragement of expansion of commercial establishments in the southern tip of the island through zoning and floor space index control, and creation of other commercial centres in Greater Bombay.

(5) Increase in house building, provision of additional sites for schools, playgrounds, parks, hospitals, markets, recreational spaces and public utilities.

(6) Road widening, construction of new roads in suburbs and improvement of roads in city and suburbs.

(7) Reclamation of about 27 square miles of low lying areas for development.

(8) To ensure that all new development in Bombay conforms to the planned pattern.

The authors of the Development Plan appear to be aware of the fact that a comprehensive control on the development in Greater Bombay may lead to haphazard development on the periphery outside the city. This will have its undesirable effects on conditions in Bombay. The authors of the plan therefore pointed to the urgent need for the preparation of a Regional Plan for the planned development of Greater Bombay and the areas around it.

The Draft Development Plan was prepared by the Municipal Corporation and was finalised after giving due consideration to objections and suggestions from various quarters. The Development Plan, contemplated the * designation ' of about 2,718 acres of land in the city and about 12,485 acres in suburbs and extended suburbs for public purposes. The liability of the Corporation towards the total cost of land acquisition in the city would be about Rs. 43.57 crores and that in the suburbs about Rs. 74.73 crores. The Municipal share towards the total expenditure on capital works contemplated in the Development Plan, besides the cost of land acquisition would be Rs. 384.57 crores to be spent over a period of 20 years. In addition to this the authors of the Plan estimated that water works and drainage would ccst about Rs. 137.38 and Rs. 58.07 crores, respectively.

The Development Plan for Greater Bombay has thrown-tight on the problems of the development of this metropolitan city. The authors of the plan are quite aware of the stupendity of the problem of planning the development of this city. A total solution to all the problems lies much further ahead than can be envisaged in any one plan."The plan, therefore, produces only part solutions preventing recurrences of past mistakes, giving direction to its growth so that it conforms to current trends and avoiding wasteful results of haphazard development. But man's needs change with the times bringing in their wake change in planning ideas. With the passage of time some inadequacies as well as drawbacks in the Development Plan might also be revealed. For all these reasons, periodical reviews of the plan would be necessary." (Bombay Municipal Corporation, Development Plan for Greater Bombay, 1964, p. xxii.)

The authors of the plan have analysed the problems of the various facts of development of the city. They have further proposed a rational industrial location policy based on certain principles of land use planning and industrial zoning. They opine that from the point of water supply, and other socio-economic considerations the population of Greater Bombay should be limited to 8 millions, and it should not be allowed to cross this limit.

The plan proposes a number of measures for improving the condition of transport and for relieving the city of the hazardous transport problems. The measures included the widening of roads in the city and suburbs, construction of new roads, establishment of truck termini at suitable points, and provision of multi-storeyed and additional parking places which will relieve the arteries of traffic. As regards railways, more and more land is proposed to be made available for construction of additional rail lines and yards. They also pointed out to the desirability of tube railways in the city.

Among many other proposals, the Development Plan proposed two new arterial roads along the fringes of the city on practical grounds and the desirability of keeping the through traffic away from the congested parts. The western promenade would connect Netaji Subhash Road with Mahim causeway along the western coast. The project would involve tunnelling through Malabar Hill and construction of a bridge from Worli to Bandra over the sea waters. This would prove a great boon to motorists and would minimise the travel distance by 6.5 km. On the eastern side, the artery of through traffic is proposed to be estab­lished by connecting P. D'Mello Road and Reay Road with Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road.

The Development Plan contains a number of proposals and recommendations pertaining to the development of public utilities, civic amenities, medical and public health facilities and educational facilities. It is an exercise in improving the socio-economic infrastructure of this metropolis of India.

However, like many other large cities of the world, the problems of Bombay are not only formidable but also intractable. No single plan can evolve a solution to the enormous problems. The course open to the concerned authorities lies therefore through the formulation of a series of well thought out pragmatic plans and their effective implementation at the various levels of administration.

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DISTRICT PLANNING

The State Government had prepared its own District Plan for Greater Bombay for the period 1974-79 which aimed at providing the essential civic amenities and healthy conditions of life in the city. Under the District Plan the State Government gave grants to the Bombay Municipal Corporation for certain development projects.

The Statement No. 19 gives the plan outlay under the District Plan of Greater Bombay, 1974-79.

The District Plan for Greater Bombay emphasised the necessity of improvement in the living conditions in Bombay by improving water supply and other social overheads. Keeping in view the enormous problems of this city which were particularly aggravated by the continuous influx of population, the plan had accorded priorities to water supply, sewerage, slum improvement, housing and link road which together accounted for 71.81 per cent of the total allotment of Rs.20,47 lakhs for 1978-79. Another important aspect of the Plan was the provision of relief to educated unemployed persons by providing seed money assistance to them, apprenticeship training and more employment opportunities to the weaker sections.

STATEMENT No. 19

OUTLAY UNDER DISTRICT PLAN OF GREATER BOMBAY
(Annual Plan for Greater Bombay, 1978-79.)

(Rs. in lakhs)

Water supply is the single largest and most important item of development under the District Plan. The Bhatsa Project which is of prime importance for augmentation of water supply to the city envisages to supply 300 m.g.d. water to Bombay Metropolitan Region besides providing irrigation to 11,800 hectares of land in Shahapur and Bhivandi talukas, after completion. In its first stage it would supply 100 m.g.d. water to Bombay and 50 m.g.d. for irrigating 5,900 hectares of land. A power house of 15 MW installed capacity is also contemplated at the foot of the dam.

The Bhatsa Project is a joint project of the Maharashtra Government and the Bombay Municipal Corporation. The share of expenditure to be borne by the Municipal Corporation is being met from a loan from the International Development Authority (World Bank) under an agreement between the International Development Authority and the Government and the Bombay Municipal Corporation. The Corporation had committed itself to the World Bank to commission the Project in June 1978. It is therefore obligatory on the part of the Government of Maharashtra to create storage at Bhatsa dam so as to supply water to the Municipal Corporation. The Annual Plan for 1978-79 therefore provided Rs. 400 lakhs for completion of the Bhatsa Head Works.

The other important schemes in the District Plan of Greater Bombay are construction of link roads, grants to Bombay Municipal Corporation for primary education, expansion of Government-aided private schools, development of higher secondary education (junior colleges), housing, environmental improvement in slum areas and urban development schemes.

The District Planning and Development Council for Bombay has accorded a high priority to slum improvement which poses a constant threat to the healthy growth of the city. The slum population in Bombay is estimated at 27 lakhs which includes the slum dwellers on lands owned by the Municipal Corporation, the State Government, the Government of India and private owners. Since the inception of the scheme about 13 lakh slum dwellers staying on State Government and Municipal Corporation lands in Bombay have benefited (up to 1977). The Annual Plan provided an amount of Rs. 150 lakhs for improvement of slum areas in 1978-79. This programme will be confined to slum dwellers on private lands in future.

In order to seek relief in transportation and road congestion it is proposed to implement the recommendations of the Wilbur Smith and Associates who have recommended a system of free-ways, express-ways and major street improvements to meet the demand for future trans­portation needs of Bombay. The island is proposed to be encircled by free-ways  and bifurcated by express-ways  so that all points of the island are within a mile of free-way or express-way.

Some of the recommendations of the Wilbur Smith Plan are being implemented and being included in the District Plan for Greater Bombay. The Fifth Plan of the District envisaged an outlay of Rs. 3.50 crores for link roads. It was advocated that link roads between Western and Eastern suburbs of Bombay would help in relieving the congestion in the suburbs and in developing the interiors of the suburbs. They would also help in reducing the travel distance from Western to Eastern suburbs and relieving the transit traffic at Dadar.

The Fifth Plan provision for the link roads was as under:—
                                                                 

The Integrated Water Supply and Sewerage Scheme, is another very important scheme, though not from the economic point of view but from the point of view of the living conditions in the city. It has been undertaken with the assistance of the International Development Authority and is a time-bound scheme, the first phase of which is required to be completed soon.

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PRICE TRENDS

The study of price trends is very important in the context of formulation and execution of the price policy. Such a study assumes greater importance particularly because price policy is conceived as a long-term continuing policy and the practical administrative and other arrangements are to be planned for the implementation of such a long-term policy. An empirical study of prices helps formulation of a programme which has to be implemented in its two aspects, viz., first the stabilisation of prices of agricultural produce giving full consideration to the protection and incentive to the agricultural producer and second, holding the price line especially as it impinges on the consumer. Thus, an empirical study of prices is useful for the planners pf the economy and the administrators.Such a study is also of great interest to the students of economic history. For the consumer, who was euphemistically termed as the king in a capitalistic free economy, such a study is only a matter of academic interest.
The trend of prices and the salient features of the market .conditions as they affected the economic life of Bombay from 1737 upto the present time are analysed below.

The supply of provisions was one of the greatest difficulties with which Bombay in early days had to deal. The Portuguese hindered the grain supply and prohibited all provisions being brought from Salsette, in consequence of which the East India Company had to import rice from long distances and to store it in warehouses at Bombay.
The market price of rice varied considerably from year to year, as the following record shows:—

The rates of wheat and gram similarly fluctuated during the middle of the eighteenth century, the price of the former varying from Rs. 24 per Khandi in 1743 to Rs. 48 per Khandi in 1754, and of the latter from Rs. 21 in 1728 to Rs. 11 in 1768. In 1776 most of the commodities at Bombay were cheaper than in Surat. There was however scarcity of foodgrains in Bombay and a committee was appointed to enquire into the causes of scarcity in 1780. The committee had advised to keep sufficient stocks to keep down prices.

1800-1907 : In 1802 the fall of rain having been very scanty famine was imminent in the Bombay Presidency, and prompt measures were accordingly taken to alleviate the impending distress. A temporary grain department was formed in Bombay. Government prohibited the exportation of grain from Bombay and suspended the levy of town duties to encourage imports. Government also authorised 200 bags of rice from their store being daily placed in. the bazar for sale at fixed prices. Rice was also imported from Mangalore and thrown into the market for sale. The famine of the year 1812 extended even further than that of 1802. But fortunately the scarcity continued only for a short time in Bombay and perhaps resulted from the eagerness of the merchants to send their grain to the famine-stricken districts in the hope of realizing large profits.

In 1813 Milburn observed that the prices at Bombay fluctuated continually from uncertain market conditions and they showed a tendency to increase steadily.

The state of the market between 1848 and 1858 may be seen from the following statement showing the average prices during the period :—

STATEMENT No. 20                

The above rise was severely felt by the poorer classes and was generally attributed to the pressure of taxes and to speculation and hoarding. In 1861 the War in America began, in consequence of which Great Britain had to depend for her cotton supply mainly oil India. This so raised the price of Cotton that during the five years that the War lasted Bombay profited to the extent of more than 75 millions Sterling. Simultaneously there was further rise in the prices of grain, as will be seen from the following statement (Gazetteer of Bombay City and Island, Vol. I p. 318,):—

STATEMENT No. 21

The years 1893 and 1894 being marked by poor harvests in parts of India, a rise occurred in the prices of grain and specially wheat. In 1897 the demand for wheat for internal consumption quickened owing to continued bad harvests and prices rose rapidly and maintained a very high level, operating even as a check on exports. The price of wheat in Bombay rose to Rs. 7-15-1 in December 1897.

A committee appointed to study the cost of living in Bombay reported in 1907 that there were fluctuations in prices since 1870, but the highest level was reached in 1907. The price rise was more conspicuous in the case of food articles. The committee also reported the rise in house rent in Bombay.

The trend of prices in Bombay as in the entire country from 1913-14 upto the dawn of Independence in 1947 shows certain very interesting features. An empirical study of the behaviour of prices during this period is of immense interest to a student of economics. This was the period which experienced the unprecedented horrors of two World Wars which shattered the economies of many countries in the world. This period also experienced the pangs and agonies of the world-wide Great Depres­sion of 1929-30, which devastated the economies of the U.K., France, America and the countries under British rule. These fateful events affected the economic life of a major portion of humanity, and gave rise to upheavals of demand, supply, production and prices. These international upheavals were experienced by the Indian economy, with probably the same intensity. The fate of Bombay was in no way different from that of the Indian economy.

The prices at Bombay continued to rise throughout the World War-I. The rise in prices was more in the case of manufactured articles than that of primary products. The prices of imported articles were higher due to the difficulties in importing them. After the end of the World War-I, the prices of almost all commodities saw a declining trend. The decline in price level was in consonance with the milder depression in the international commodity markets. In the case of Bombay, this state of decline was only a temporary phenomenon. Prices started picking up in 1921. In fact the plague famine of 1918-19 which affected parts of the Bombay Presidency had adverse effects on the prices and availability of agricultural commodities at Bombay. The post-war depression was thus short­lived. As a matter of fact the prices of cereals (Rice, Jowar, Wheat and Bajri), cotton and sugar rose very high in 1924. The index numbers of wholesale prices of cotton, sugar and cereals were 252, 208 and 134, respectively with the prices in July 1914 as the base in Bombay. It means that the prices of these articles in 1924 were very much higher than those during the World War-I.

The statement given below furnishes the index numbers of wholesale prices in Bombay, from 1924 to 1943:—

STATEMENT No. 22

Index Numbers (Government of Bombay, Statistical Atlas of Bombay State, 1950.)of Wholesale Prices in Bombay City
(Base: July 1914)

The period between 1924 and 1947 can broadly be divided into three blocks of years from the point of view of price trends, viz. (i) 1924 to 1929, (ii) 1930 to 1939 and (iii) 1940 to 1947.

The trends of prices) for Bombay during these blocks of years are analysed below :

(i) 1924-29, the period of Buoyancy : The prices of cereals and pulses continued to rise throughout this period. The price rise was more conspicuous in case of grain and tur dal. It is evident from the statement of index numbers of wholesale prices at Bombay, which is given in Statement No. 18, that the index number of prices of cereals increased by 10 points from 1924 to 1929 and that of pulses increased by 48 points in the same period. The prices of cotton which were at the highest in 1924 fell from 252 in 1924 to 133 in 1929. This decline could be attributed to the slump in demand for cotton by Indian as well as foreign textile mills. Similarly sugar prices also registered a declining trend throughout this period. The prices of jowar, bajri, rice and sugar in 1929 were all below their respective prices in 1924. The general picture was therefore one of downward trend in agricultural prices, pulses being an exception. It is interesting to note that the boom in the international economy in 1929 was unable to have any significant impact on the condition of prices in Bombay. The prices in Bombay, it appears, were more in consonance with the conditions in the Bombay Presidency.

(ii) 1930-39, the period of Depression and Revival: This period was characterised by the slump in prices of almost all commodities in Bombay as compared to those in the earlier period. The unprecedented slump in prices was mainly the result of the international slump in demand. The prices of agricultural produce were probably at the lowest on account of lack of demand from foreign countries. The Great Depression which devastated the economies of the free world and the British dominions had a very adverse impact on the Indian economy. The pangs of the Depression were even more severe to the Indian economy as it depended mainly on the export of agricultural produce. Since the demand for agricultural produce in the international market declined severely, the prices showed a precipitous fall from 1930 to the middle of 1932. There was but only a very mild revival in the latter half of 1932.

The international economy showed signs of revival from 1932 onwards, and the process of revival continued throughout this period. In fact prices in the international economy started increasing at a good rate after 1934. It is however interesting to note that the price situation in Bombay was at variance with the international situation. The statement of index numbers of prices at Bombay, and the data on wholesale prices at Bombay market given in this chapter shows that the prices at Bombay touched the bottom in 1931, revived slightly in 1932 and again declined. The decline in the prices of pulses, sugar and cotton was quite conspicuous. As a matter of fact the prices of these commodities were lower in 1933, 1934, 1935 and 1936 than those in 1930 and 1931. The prices of cleaned cotton which was Rs. 54.35 in 1924 and Rs. 17.27 in 1930 fell down to Rs. 3.95 in 1934.(The price index number for cotton was however the lowest in 1938. This, however, cannot be explained in terms of causal relationship.) The 1934 prices of all articles at Bombay were probably the lowest during the entire period from 1930 to 1939, and compared most unfavourably with those in any other year in this century, for which data is available. Between 1938 and 1939, the prices on the whole showed a tendency to rise and, among other factors, the threat of War and its actual outbreak in September 1939, were mainly responsible for this rise. However, all the prices were still below the level 'of 1924. It is also interesting to note that the index numbers of wholesale prices of cereals, pulses and cotton show that the prices of these commodities were lower in 1939 than those in July 1914. The prices of cotton at Bombay continued to be lower even during World War II than in July 1914.

(iii) 1940-47, the period of War and aftermath : With the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, prices of consumers goods started increasing in Bombay. The gradual price rise was perceptible until 1942 in case of all commodities. It may however be noted that though prices in general were rising, the prices of certain commodities were lower in 1942, than in 1924. This was very much conspicuous in the case of cotton, raw sugar, ghee, linseed, tur dal gram, etc. This was quite contrary to expectations. But the reality was what it was.

The price situation in Bombay as elsewhere in the country became adverse from the middle of 1942, the steepest rise in prices being in 1943. The prices of all commodities were very high in Bombay from 1943 to 1947. This was primarily due to the cessation of imports from Burma and other eastern countries, and also due to the fact that agriculturists as well as consumers were anticipating statutory rationing of foodgrains in the beginning of 1943. "Thereafter the free play of economic and other factors influencing the prices more or less came to an end and the prices began to be governed by the policy of the Government." (Governmentof Bombay, Statistical Atlas of Bombay State, 1950.) The prices of tur dal, wheat, linseed, ghee, tobacco, etc. reached a new high in 1947.

The Government had introduced statutory rationing in order to meet the situation of shortage of supply and rising prices of essential commodities. Distribution of such commodities was done through ration shops. Though the policy of rationing was abandoned from January 1948 in the State, statutory rationing was continued in Greater Bombay along with the cities of Pune and Solapur. The  immediate effect of the abandonment of rationing in the State was an increase in prices which continued to rise, contrary to all expectations. The combined index numbers of wholesale prices of foodgrains given in Statement No. 23 for the Bombay province bear testimony to the spurt in prices after relaxation of rationing.

STATEMENT No. 23
Index Numbers of Wholesale Prices in 1948 (Government of Bombay, Statistical Atlas of Bombay State, 1950.) (Base year 1947 =100)

As a result of the continued steep rise in the price level of foodgrains, the Government of India decided in October 1947 to reimpose controls on prices and distribution.

It may be useful to study the trend of prices in Greater Bombay from the consumer price index numbers for working class, the consumer prices index numbers for non-manual workers and the primary data of prices, in the city. To start with, the consumer price index numbers for working class in Bombay are given in Statement No. 24.

STATEMENT No. 24
Consumer Price Index Numbers for Working Class in Greater Bombay
(Base year : July 1933 to June 1934 = 100)

(Base year 1960 = 100)

Consumer Price Index Numbers for Non-Manual Employees in Greater Bombay
(Base year 1960=100)

Source.—C.S.O., New Delhi, quoted in Statistical Abstract of Maharashtra.

The average wholesale prices of certain agricultural and other essential commodities at Bombay market in 1970-71 and 1973-74 are given in Statement No. 25.

It is evident from the consumer price index numbers for working class that the prices in 1949 were quite higher than in the base year 1933-34, the only exception being house rent. The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, however, caused a further rise in prices. The rising prices were mainly because of the situation in the international commodity markets, and the rising demand on account of a rush for stock piling of essential goods. The prices at Bombay were relatively free from sporadic fluctuations during the First Five Year Plan, though they were higher in 1954 than in 1949. During 1953 they remained fairly steady and recorded only a marginal rise. This was followed by a downward trend in 1954. The prices in March 1955 were lower than in March 1952. The beginning of 1956, however, witnessed a reversion of the downward trend and was in fact, a prologue to the phenomenon of rising prices in subsequent years.

The Second Five Year Plan was also a period of relative stability of prices, though the prices of food articles, clothing material and manufactured goods in 1959 were higher than in any year before. The prices of agricultural commodities in particular were quite high in 1959 which are also reflected in the consumer price index number for the year at Bombay. This year was however followed by conditions of recession in prices upto the outbreak of the Indo-China War in October 1962.

The consumer price index for Bombay attained an all time high in 1964 with the base year of 1933-34. The prices of almost all commodities were more than 400 to 600 per cent of those in 1933-34.

STATEMENT No. 25
AVERAGE WHOLESALE PRICES OF CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL AND OTHER ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES AT BOMBAY MARKET
(Prices in Rs. per Quintal)

STATEMENT No. 25—contd.
(Prices in Rs. per Quintal)

The price situation in Bombay as all over India assumed serious propor­tions after the Indo-Pakistan War of September 1965. The national economy had to bear an ostensible burden of the War which increased the burden of rising prices. Besides, the conditions of scarcity on account of drought in Maharashtra in 1965-66 aggravated the problem further. Speculative hoarding of essential commodities worsened the price situation. This adverse condition of prices continued throughout 1965-66 and 1966-67 with little relief. The national price situation became still more adverse after April 1967. This had an inevitable effect on the conditions in Bombay. All commodities were costly, and certain articles like sugar and wheat became not only costly but scarce also. The memory of an enlightened citizen of Bombay is still fresh that in June / July 1967 sugar was available at about Rs. 6 per kilogram while wheat and rice of good quality were not at all available.

The general level of prices registered a rising trend throughout 1967, the peak level was reached in January 1968. It however declined slightly in February 1968, and remained almost stable from February 1968 to March 1969. From April 1969 prices started rising gradually and maintained the same trend throughout upto December 1970. The consumer price index number for working class in Bombay touched a high level at 813 (Base year June 1934 = 100).

The year 1971 began with a slight decline in prices, but this was only a temporary phase as a rise in prices started from March itself.

It would thus appear that prices at Bombay as those in the country continued to rise from 1966 with short-lived aberrations. The situation however worsened after the Bangla Desh War of December 1971. The fate of the consumer in 1972 was more gloomy than before.

During this period government took a few measures to reduce prices. These measures included distribution of cereals, sugar, kerosine, etc., through fair price shops, and procurement of rice, wheat, jowar and bajri on a monopoly basis. The monopoly procurement of these items and ban on private trade in these articles added to the difficulties to the consumer. The conditions in the market were very oppressive to the common man who could not get the essential foodgrains in the open market. He had to take recourse to the fair price shops where he could hardly get foodgrains of good quality. The restrictions on transport of rice, wheat and jowar to Bombay from outside added to the difficulties to the consumer.

It would be interesting here to study the consumer price index numbers for the working class in Bombay for the years from 1966 to 1975.( Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Annual Report, 1975.)

STATEMENT No. 26

Consumer Price Index Numbers for Working Class in Bombay 1966 to 1975 (Bombay Chamber of Commerce of Industries, Annual Report, 1975. )
Average Prices for the year ended June 1934 = 100

The consumer price index numbers given above are self-evident and self-explanatory, and need no explanation. It would however be interesting to throw light on the situation in general and the hardships to the consumer in particular.

Though the common man is accustomed to rising prices ever since the last about 25 years, he was perplexed at the tyranny of the price situation which he had to face from the middle of 1973. He experienced the pinch of the market conditions and saw no respite. The prices of everything went on rising at a galloping speed from June 1973 to June 1975. There were not even shortlined aberrations from the rising trend of prices. The oppressive nature of prices cast an ominous shadow on the economic situation. Government on its part intervened by imposing informal rationing and restrictions on the movement of goods, such as rice, wheat, jowar, sugar etc. However all the measures were lost in the vortex of a struggle for existence. There was some relief to the consumer as regards the availability of essential commodities during the emergency declared in June 1975. The prices of agricultural products witnessed a slight relaxation. But this was again a temporary phase born out of coercion and punitive measures. This phase was not destined to live longer and died along with the emergency in March 1977. As things appear now in May 1982, the battered consumer grumbles and grudges against the rising prices, but sees no relief or respite from the horrors of inflation.

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WAGE TRENDS

A reference in connection with the subject of wages on the records of the Bombay Government was contained in a letter addressed by the Court to the Bombay Council in 1717, in which the court suggested that the Kolis of Bombay, who are described as being more faithful, ingeni­ous and labourious than others, might be encouraged by paying them higher wages. In 1740, the Bombay Government ordered " that the Kolis' wages allowed by the company be increased to a half rupee a month each man". In 1767, it was found that the wages of labourers were very high, and as the price of labour had not been regulated for some years past, a committee was appointed by the Bombay Government for the purpose. This Committee fixed the rate of labour at 12 pice a day or 63 reas for 9 hours for every able bodied labourer and less in proportion to the age and strength of others. This rate was approved by the Bombay Government in 1768. In 1772 labourers received 10 pice a day, smiths from 16 to 21 1/2 pice, carpenters from 22 to 27 pice a day, while domestic servants earned according to their rank from Rs. 3 to Rs. 12 a month.

The condition of the labouring classes, so far as wages were con­cerned, was decidedly better at the beginning of the century than it used to be before. By about 1860 the daily wages of a labourer, working from 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. were on an average 4 annas. During the nineties of the last century they varied from 5 to 6 annas, and they varied from 7 to 8 annas in 1905. Simultaneously with this rise in wages there had also been a similar rise in the prices of food-stuffs, fuel, and in house rent. The wages of Nowghanis varied from 8 annas to 10 annas during 1890 but their earnings rose from about 12 annas to one rupee in 1905, the headman earning, at times, from Rs. 1-4 to Rs. 1-6 per day. The ordinary wages of unskilled labourers varied from 6 annas to 7 annas per day for a male labourer, from 4 annas to 5 annas for a female labourer and from 2 annas to 4 annas for children in 1905. In Bombay wages were paid in cash either daily, weekly or monthly. Labourers, who were strangers to this city, were paid daily and were called Rojandars (daily workers). In Government establishments payments were made monthly.

The class of hereditary servants were generally known as Bankotis and came from such places as Shrivardhan, Harnai, Bankot, Chiplun, Rajapur and Malwan, in the Konkan. This class also included a few Kamathis, Ghatis, Gujaratis, Muhammadans and Mahars. The Bankotis performed menial work in Hindu households. They were generally served with meals in the house in addition to monthly wages. Their monthly wages, with meals, generally varied from Rs. 3 to Rs. 6, and without meals from Rs. 9 to Rs. 12. Many of them preferred to work in factories and building operations as these avenues assured them higher wages.

At the beginning of this century the Hindus contributed three-quarters and the Muhammadans one-quarter of the entire mill-hand population of Bombay. The former included the Konkanis, the Ghatis, the Pardesis, etc., and the latter mostly consisted of the Julhais who were hereditary weavers. The average wages earned by mill-hands in a spinning and weaving mill were in the case of men, Rs.14 to Rs.30 per mensem; of women, Rs.7 1/2 to Rs.9 and of children, Rs. 5 to Rs. 7 per mensem. A mill of 30,000 spindles employed about a dozen jobbers whose wages varied from Rs. 30 to Rs. 70 per head.

In 1908 there was an exceptional number of large works going on in Bombay, for example the New Docks with their subsidiary works at Elephanta, and a lot of construction activity including the operations of the Bombay Improvement Trust. The mill industry was also exceptionally active, more than a lakh of persons being employed in it, and the ordinary business-life of Bombay was much more brisk than it had been for several years. This state of affairs led to an unusual demand for labour which raised the wages of labourers in 1908. In these days wages used to rise from March to May due to larger demand for labour.

The average rates of pay per day which prevailed in Bombay city for the several kinds of skilled and unskilled labour in 1909 were as follows:—

The variation in the wages of mill hands since 1882 to 1908 can be seen from the following statistics:—

The average annual earnings of workers in Government factories, textile mills, and industries such as engineering, metals and mining, food, drink and tobacco, chemicals and dyes, printing, wood, stone and glass, and skins and hides in Bombay Province during the years between 1939 and 1948 are given in Statement No. 27. The statement shows the compa­rative wage earnings in the various industries and the year to year changes in wages during the fateful years of the World War II and its aftermath. The indices of average annual earnings in Bombay Province during the period between 1940 and 1948, with the earnings in 1939 as the base are given in Statement No. 28.

A very substantial section of the working population in Bombay live in conditions of poverty. The class of workers engaged in domestic services, daily rated wage earners and casual labourers are below the poverty line. But it is a striking fact that though a substantial section of the workers as stated above are below the poverty line, the wages of almost all classes of workers in Bombay are higher than their counterparts in rural as also urban areas of the State. Whereas an average able-bodied unskilled worker in rural Maharashtra gets a daily wage of about Rs. 6 and those in towns of the State about Rs. 8.50, a worker in Bombay gets about Rs. 11. A coolie at a railway station in Bombay earns about Rs. 10 to 15 a day. A domestic servant or a maid servant who works for six to seven households earns about Rs. 180 to Rs. 200 a month.

As a matter of fact the prospects of getting higher wages and an assured employment attract thousands of persons to Bombay from Maharashtra and all parts of India. The heavy influx of population to Bombay is mainly due to the possibilities of higher earnings and better opportunities of employment.

STATEMENT No. 27
Annual Average Earnings of Workers in Bombay Province

(Figures in Rupees)