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The combination of historical factorsincluding the caste system, British occupation, cultural values, and government regulations- have limited innovative entrepreneurship in India. More recently, efforts have focused on changing the cultural mind set in India regarding entrepreneurship and on creating entrepreneurs by giving youth the selfconfidence to become high achievers.
Situated in southern Asia, the Indian subcontinent has over 7,000 km. of coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.The Republic of India shares land boundaries with Bangladesh (formerly Pakistan East), Bhutan, Myanmar (formerly Burma), China (PRC), Nepal, and Pakistan. India's population, officially approaching 1 billion1, is multicultural. Ethnic groups include Indo-Nordics, Dravidians, and Mongoloids. Among India's socio-religious groups are the Baghdadi Jews, Bene Israels, Christians, Cochini Jews, Hindus, Jains, Moslems, Parsis, and Sikhs. The largest religious group is the Hindu community, which is segmented into varna (classes) believed to have originated in functional occupations. The four principal higher varna are Brahmin (priests), Kshtriya (warriors), Vaishya (traders), and Shudra (artisans). The "untouchables" have been assigned the lowest social ranking. Even during the 20th century, these people have been required to maintain a physical distance of 64 feet from the Brahmins, and 30 feet from the Shudras. India's caste system, a social and religious hierarchy, is central to the people's cultural beliefs. Each individual has a dharma (duty) specific to the caste of birth.
This combination of social structure and cultural values has constrained entrepreneurship in India. However, in recent years, there have been a number of efforts to shift the national mind set regarding entrepreneurship, particularly among India's youth, in whom it is hoped an entrepreneurial personality can be developed.This article gives an over-view of some of these efforts.
Entrepreneurship in India.- An Historical Perspective
Since ancient times, Indian products have made their way to markets abroad. Muslin from India was used by the Pharaohs for Egyptian mummies (Datt and Sundharam 1968). The jains, an ascetic religious group, have long been a trading sect in India, not out of an entrepreneurial spirit based on materialism, but rather because trading was an occupation that kept them relatively free from conflict with the requirements of their religious practices.The Marwaris (formerly known as Banias) are a non-Bengali caste specializing in domestic trade. Their enterprises have complemented those...