For those with an interest in international business, particularly, that taking place in and of the global South, the Tata Group is a familiar name. Launching their business in 1868, the Tatas, a Parsi family from Navsari, Gujarat, have since expanded their business into one of India’s largest and longest running corporations. In this episode, Mircea Raianu traces the rise of the Tata Group from its early days involved in cotton and opium trading to multinational conglomerate invested in everything from salt to software, and, notably, steel. Among the topics discussed, include Tata’s involvement with colonial and anti-colonial developments; international networks of finance capital and scientific management; and Cold War geopolitics. The episode concludes with a discussion about the benefits and challenges of writing a history of global capitalism in the global South, including how to avoid the traps of exoticism and over generalization.

Check out the episode here!

Mircea Raianu is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Maryland, and the author of Tata: The Global Corporation that Built Indian Capitalism (Harvard University Press, 2021).