Career Lecture Series No. 9. Commercial Development in India 17th February 1939

If the leaders of commerce and industry and the heads of this2 University and of other educational authorities in this Province are to get together in a way that will enable them effectively to contribute to the fight against the great evil of unemployment, it is of the utmost importance that the main economic trends should be pondered and understood. [...] Whereas in the old days the managing agents had been in the main partnerships of wealthy men who were investing their own and their friends' money, a feature of the post-War years was the formation of managing agents who relied entirely, or almost entirely, on the public for the finance of the com- panies they started or managed. [...] Broadly speaking, the difference between these two types of combination is this In a partnership the whole of a man's private fortune is available if required for the needs of the business ; in a limited liability company he only places at the disposal of the business the amount he has invested in the shares or debentures of that business or in any private loan he may make to it. [...] Inevitably, some years must elapse before the full effect of the new Company Law will be seen, but it is most impor- tant that every one—both in commercial circles and in centres of learning such as this—should endea- vour to understand what is likely to be the effect of this new law ; because like taxation it goes to the very roots of the financial, commercial, and industrial structure of the cou [...] in my view the primary responsibility for finding this type of finance rests with the class of finance house that is known in India as a managing agent and those members of the public who have confidence in the ability of the managing agents to make the enterprise a success.