Gujarati Entrepreneurship-Historical Continuity against Changing Perspectives

The transition from pre-machine manufacture to capitalist industry in south Gujarat - between Tapi and Vapi shows important long-term and short-term continuities. The first refers to the prominence of the Jain and Vaishnava banias from at least the 16th century, in the emergence of manufacturing industry to the present-day. The short- term continuity pertains to the other group which became involved in the industrial transition during this century petty producers, local artisans who were the first to change to engineering and profited from state-sponsored industrialisation. These continuities contrast markedly with the changing perspectives on entrepreneurship in the last 30 years.