In 1851, brothers Salomon and Johann Georg Volkart established the firm of Volkart Brothers, with offices in Winterthur, Switzerland and Bombay, India. Their timing was prescient. European powers were deepening their colonial engagements in Asia, and India was emerging as a major hub for cotton and other commodities. The Volkart brothers recognized the potential of serving as intermediaries between Indian producers and global markets, and quickly positioned themselves as trusted merchant bankers and commodity traders.
From the outset, the company pursued a dual strategy: exporting Indian products like cotton, coffee, cocoa, spices, coir, and rubber to Europe, while importing machinery, paper, soap, textiles, and other European manufactured goods into the Indian market. This two-way trade proved highly profitable. When the American Civil War (1861–1865) disrupted cotton supplies, Volkart Brothers capitalized on soaring global demand for Indian cotton with presence deep in hinterland like the town of Beawar. Their reputation grew not only as traders, but also as financiers who extended credit and modern trading practices to Indian partners.
The company expanded rapidly. By the late 19th century, Volkart had opened offices in Colombo, Cochin, Karachi, and London, establishing a strong presence across Asia and Europe. In India, their network grew to over 80 branches, making them one of the largest European trading houses on the subcontinent. By 1926, the firm employed more than 7,600 people worldwide and had become the fourth largest cotton merchant globally. More than a commercial enterprise, Volkart Brothers embodied what historians now describe as “cosmopolitan capitalism”, a business model that blended Swiss capital and management with Indian enterprise and resources, straddling colonial boundaries in pursuit of global trade.
The company also left a strong industrial imprint in southern India. In Kerala, Volkart Brothers invested heavily in the coir industry, setting up large-scale factories in Alappuzha. These units modernized coir manufacturing and provided employment to thousands. Decades later, after the decline of European merchant houses, these assets were absorbed into the Kerala State Coir Corporation, and today, some former Volkart sites are being redeveloped into heritage museums that preserve the memory of Alappuzha’s industrial past.
By the mid-20th century, however, changing global trade patterns and India’s independence reshaped the fortunes of foreign trading houses. Volkart Brothers faced the challenge of redefining themselves in a world where nationalist policies and industrialization were replacing colonial-era trade networks. In 1954, another step was taken: Volkart Brothers joined hands with Tata Sons to form Voltas Ltd., headquartered in Mumbai; an anagram of “VOL” and “TAS”. Voltas inherited Volkart’s engineering and air-conditioning businesses, and a year later, the New York Times reported that the new venture would “take over Volkart jobs in India.” This marked a transition from commodity trading to industrial and engineering services, aligning with India’s economic priorities.
Voltas thrived and has become a household name in India, being the country’s leading air-conditioning and cooling company, and continues to acknowledge its Volkart roots.
Volkart Brothers’ other global commodity operations continued for some decades. However, by the 1980s, their independent role had diminished, and in 1989, their merchant trading activities were absorbed into Paul Reinhart Ltd., another Swiss trading house linked by family ties, involved in agriculture trading primarily cotton.
Their coffee division evolved into Volcafe, now part of ED&F Man, ensuring that the Volkart name lived on within the architecture of modern commodity trading giants.
Even after their trading empire wound down, the legacy of the Volkart family endures through the Volkart Foundation, established in 1951, which remains active in cultural and philanthropic work.
In Kerala, the coir factories and warehouses built by the firm are being restored as heritage sites, physical reminders of how a Swiss merchant house became entwined with the industrial and social fabric of a coastal Indian town.
Sources:
https://historicalleys.blogspot.com/2023/06/volkart-brothers-swiss-connection.html https://www.voltas.in/about/history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkart_Brothers
https://www.bennykuriakose.com/alappuzha-heritage-project-1/kerala-state-coir-corporation https://www.nytimes.com/1955/01/04/archives/tatas-in-new-concern-voltas-ltd-will-take-over-volkart-jobs-in.html
In the early 19th century, the Sassoons, originating from Baghdad (with deeper roots perhaps reaching back to Aleppo), were a distinguished Jewish banking family, serving the Ottomans as treasurers. But as political tides shifted under the new wali, David Sassoon (1792–1864) emigrated in 1832, taking refuge in Bombay along with his large family and escaping persecution.
Fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hindustani (though he notably never mastered English), David Sassoon quickly carved his mark in Bombay’s mercantile landscape. He launched David Sassoon & Co. in a modest counting house at 9 Tamarind Street, trading in banking, property, silks, spices, wool, cotton yarn, and opium.
The firm expanded at a dizzying pace, establishing branches in Calcutta, Karachi, Hong Kong (1843), Canton, Shanghai (1845), and cities across Japan, the Persian Gulf, and the UK. Utilizing its own fleet of “opium clippers,” it dominated the India-China opium route, at one point handling 70% of Indian opium trade, surpassing competitors like Jardine Matheson and Dent & Co..
But David Sassoon’s vision went beyond the seams of commerce. He engaged in banking, helping establish HSBC in 1865 and funded the early Anglo-California Bank and the Imperial Bank of Persia. Back home, he nurtured community: founding the Magen David Synagogue (Byculla, 1861), a Talmud Torah school, Talmudic summer synagogue in Pune, and supporting famine relief, sailors’ homes, orphan funds, and more.
Upon David’s passing, eldest son Albert (Abdallah) took charge, ushering in the age of mill-building, textile manufacturing, and infrastructure that transformed Bombay into India’s industrial powerhouse. Albert launched cotton mills, the city’s first wet dock (Sassoon Docks, 1875), funded schools (like Elphinstone High), erected a statue of the Prince of Wales, and served on the Legislative Council.
Later, Elias David Sassoon struck out on his own in 1867, founding E.D. Sassoon & Co., which soon outgrew even the parent firm in capital and dynamism.
At the cusp of global trade, the Sassoons leveraged the post-Opium War openings. In 1844 Elias ventured to Canton, then Shanghai, where he planted deep roots. By the early 20th century, the family was among Shanghai’s elite, owning monumental structures including the Sassoon House (1929 Art Deco—today’s Fairmont Peace Hotel), once a glamorous haven of colonial high society.
Their ventures spanned insurance, shipping, rail loans, mills (rice, paper, flour), breweries, and laundries, diversifying across Asia.
Behind the glittering empire, the Sassoons opened doors for other Jewish families. Notably, the Kadoories, now famed owners of The Peninsula Hotels and Hong Kong’s China Light & Power; once worked for the Sassoons. Similarly, Silas Hardoon, who began in Bombay, rose to immense real estate wealth in Shanghai, his legacy enduring in the iconic Hardoon Building. By the 1930s, Baghdadi Jews, though few in number, owned much of Shanghai’s Bund, creating a lasting architectural and social imprint.
In Bombay, the Sassoons shaped the city’s geography and identity, places like Kala Ghoda and Sans Souci (David’s palatial Byculla residence) remain markers of their cultural imprint. David hosted Raj dignitaries, imbued his home with French elegance, and fostered a unique blend of identities: Jewish diaspora, Bombay cosmopolitanism, and colonial modernity.
But the empire would eventually wane. In the 1930s–40s, the Sassoons began divesting Bombay properties and gradually retreated, moving away to places like the Bahamas. Their lands gave way to the rise of India’s modern billionaire-driven skyline, but their architectural and philanthropic legacy endures.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sassoon_%26_Co. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassoon_family
https://www.theindiaforum.in/history/rise-and-fall-sassoons https://scroll.in/magazine/1075379/how-the-sassoons-of-bombay-became-one-of-chinas-wealthiest-families
https://www.gatewayhouse.in/the-story-of-the-sassoons/ https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/david-sassoon-the-biggest-wealth-generator-in-bombay-4523271.html https://www.mcgm.gov.in/irj/go/km/docs/documents/D%20Ward/Heritage-Sites/97_Legacy%20of%20D%20Ward_Article_David%20Sassoon.pdf