GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | Second Quarterly 2013 â North America ...
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | Second Quarterly 2013 â North America ...
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | Second Quarterly 2013 â North America ...
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<strong>GLOBAL</strong> <strong>PERSPECTIVES</strong> - SECOND QUARTERLY <strong>2013</strong><br />
ASIA<br />
New Look For India's Historic ‘Bhendi Bazaar’<br />
By Qureish Raghib*<br />
MUMBAI - From being an irrigation tract in its early days to being developed by the British to resettle communities<br />
– affected by the Great Mumbai Fire that broke in 1803 at the Fort area – and then eventually mushroom into<br />
a bustling business district, Bhendi Bazaar in India’s South Mumbai, has come a long way in terms of socioeconomic<br />
evolution.<br />
‘Bhendi Bazaar’ – an aerial view | Credit: Indian Muslim Observer<br />
The market area derives its name from a plantation of<br />
thespesia populnia or bhendi in the north-west of Dongri<br />
as mentioned in the Maharashtra State Gazette.<br />
Surprisingly, even with its 200-year-history of<br />
characteristic entrepreneurial resilience, Bhendi Bazaar<br />
gradually sunk in an abyss of civic neglect and<br />
infrastructural despair leading it to be seriously challenged<br />
in a liberal Indian economy.<br />
But interestingly, even during the global economic<br />
slowdown that affected Indian market growth in the last<br />
decade, this large area having distinct business dynamics,<br />
undertook economic reforms such as diversification and<br />
new business ventures while indulging in minimal credit<br />
facilities.<br />
This has been largely possible as over 50% of the 1250<br />
commercial establishments in the project area are owned<br />
by Dawoodi Bohras – one of the oldest mercantile<br />
communities that first settled in the city during the 18th<br />
century.<br />
Known for their business acumen, Dawoodi Bohra<br />
businesses in Bhendi Bazaar and elsewhere have grown<br />
exponentially by benefitting from the Burhani Qardan<br />
Hasana Trust, a global financial institute established by the<br />
community’s spiritual leader His Holiness Dr. Syedna<br />
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