What is the response of the Indian business community to the calls of globalisation and liberalisation? How has it adapted to new technologies? What are the changes in the Indian business conditions in the past and now.These and many other questions related to the Indian business have been aptly encapsulated in the first ever omnibus edition published by the Oxford University Press.

Entitled Footprints of Enterprise - Indian Business Through the Ages captures the historical backdrop of Indian business from ancient India right up to the struggle for Independence, the liberalisation era and the new business Maharajas covering everything from trade, business and entrepreneurial activity to law and history.

Priced at Rs 2500, the coffee table volume is a collaborated effort of a panel of experts under the aegis of the Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) containing a fascinating account of Indian business. With contributions from prominent historians, economists, business journalists, businessmen and diplomats, this lavishly illustrated volume charts the business history of the subcontinent with fascinating snap shots of trade in the colonial era, the state of industry at the time of Independence and after, and the more recent reforms and their impact on society.

Business trends in independent India have been contextually for the period 1947 to 1998, as is the growth of agriculture, banking, science, technology, law, industry and trade. Some of the biggest names in Indian industry - Tatas, Birlas, Hindujas, the the Bajaj group and emerging figures like Anuradha Desai of Venkateshwara Hatcheries find a mention here with chapters devoted to the major upheavals in their business. More interestingly, the book also attempts to address some of the critical issues of Indian business - the status of the sick PSUs and changing conditions.

The first section focusses on the pre-colonial era, the second section deals with the colonial period. Section III charts the enterprise in independent India.

Another section has been specially devoted to globalisation and the challenges of the new millennium and the last section focuses on enterprise in independent India. The list of contributors reads like a `Who's Who' such as Dr R A Mashelkar, director general of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Micheal Barrie McGeever, ambassador, delegation for the European Commission, economist Prem Shankar Jha, Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyer, consulting editor, The Economic Times and many others.

The volume is now available in Pune. CEOs and senior managers, businessmen, management professionals, NRIs and foreign investors, diplomats and general readers interested in business will definitely find this as an immensely valuable resource.