小規模工業・企業の展開と消費構造の変化 : 1920年〜1950年のインド

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  • ショウキボ コウギョウ キギョウ ノ テンカイ ト ショウヒ コウゾウ ノ ヘンカ 1920ネン 1950ネン ノ インド
  • Growth of Small-Scale Industries and Changes in Consumption Patterns in India, 1920 to 1950

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Abstract

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The inter-war period witnessed a growth in small-scale industries and small concerns in the service sector in India. Small-scale industries, like rice mills, cotton-ginning factories and groundnut mills in South India and the Indian hosiery industry mainly catered to the Indian domestic market, and the demand from the non-elite section of the population formed the most important part of the market. The change in the consumption patterns among the lower classes was an important factor that underpinned the expansion of the demand for these products. The emancipation of the subaltern population in villages is likely to have led them to diversify their consumption, sometimes beyond the social restraints that had been once placed upon them. An aspect of this diversification may have taken the form of imitating the consumption patterns of the upper classes, as exemplified by the consumption of rice; members of the lower classes also increased the smoking of beedi, which was not a habit of the upper castes. Thus the growth of such industries and the changes in consumption patterns reflected a wider change in the socio-economic structure of the rural society. Several factors supported this movement. The incomes of agricultural labourers in South India seem not to have decreased seriously, but rather there were possibilities that they increased, thus enabling labourer classes to slightly expand their expenditure. The international environment also partly stimulated this trend. The decline or stagnation of export trade and the trend toward inward-oriented economy, such as import-substitute industrilisation, provided favourable conditions for the changes in consumption items. In contrast to the role of exports, imports, particularly from Asian countries and regions, directly promoted the changes in consumption by lowering the relative price of rice and by providing hosiery products that were cheap enough to stimulate a demand from the poorer sections of the population. Hence, the growth of small-scale industries and the cha

source:Economic journal of Chiba University

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