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Past Imperfect Episode 14: Swadeshi Steam with A.R. Venkatachalapathy

This edition features SPJIMR Prof. Dinyar Patel in conversation with A.R. Venkatachalapathy, Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies.

How did one man take on one of the world’s biggest multinational corporations of the early twentieth century? A.R. Venkatachalapathy’s Swadeshi Steam traces the life of V.O. Chidambaram Pillai who, in 1906, founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company to break a British shipping monopoly. Swadeshi Steam was powered by both patriotism and remarkable business acumen: it canvassed shares from across India and the global Indian diaspora. And it nearly succeeded in disrupting British commercial interests—the primary reason for why Swadeshi Steam was eventually crushed by the British Indian government.