ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors discuss the past of Indian commerce and attempt to listen to the silent and absent voice of Indian business community. In the process they uncover notions and meanings of responsibility which informed their practice and juxtapose them with the development of notions of responsibility in Western capitalism. Accounts of ancient India focusing exclusively on business practices are relatively scant. Existing accounts have been primarily concerned with understanding governance, social order and corporate life in ancient India. Reputational pursuit erased the distinction between the owner as an individual and his firm as an economic agent of the market, for these reputations were not limited to firm's ability to earn profits, but extended to political and ethical business conduct, and sensitivity to the social needs of workers. The colonial government's political and economic regime that favoured imperial interests subordinated local industry.
