The rise of Jardine Matheson owed as much to Bombay as to Britain. Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, a Parsi merchant , supplied the cargo, capital and connections that William Jardine needed to build his “Noble House.” The Parsis of Bombay were not mere middlemen; they were global traders. From cotton and tea to the darker commerce of opium, families like the Jeejeebhoys, Readymoneys and Wadias tied Canton to Bombay.

They spoke Gujarati at home, did business in English and haggled in Cantonese in China’s ports. Their networks spanned continents, their fortunes bankrolled philanthropy and their imprint shaped both Hong Kong and Bombay. Today their numbers have thinned, but a portrait of Jeejeebhoy still hangs in Jardine’s headquarters and serves as a reminder that globalisation was never a Western monopoly, but also an Indian enterprise.

This podcast explains.