The Agarias are a community of iron smelters They also call themselves Lohar (or blacksmith from the word loha, meaning iron) and believe that their caste has existed from the beginning of the world. They mainly live in the Northern and Central states of India-Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand. In the late 19th century, a series of famines devastated the dry tracts of India.

Francis Buchanan described the production of Wootz steel as follows:
(i) In a smelting furnace, iron was mixed with charcoal and put inside small clay pots
(ii) By an intricate control of furnace temperatures, the smelters produced steel ingots.
(iii) These steel ingots were then fashioned into swords with very hard and sharp edges.

Tipu Sultan's sword was different from normal swords because it was made of Wootz steel, which had a very hard and sharp edge that could easily rip through an opponent's armour. This property of Wootz steel came from very small carbon crystals embedded in the iron during the smelting process used for producing this variety of steel.

In the early years of its development the Indian textile industry faced several problems:
(i) The Indian textile industry found it difficult to compete with the cheap textiles imported from Britain, as it was in its infancy.
(ii) Unlike other countries where governments allowed local industries to grow by imposing heavy duties on imports, the British colonial government in India did not protect or support the local textile industries in any way.

By the early 18th century, textile industries had just begun to develop in England. The wool and silk producers in England found themselves unable to compete, with Indian textiles. They wanted to secure market within the country by preventing the entry of Indian textiles. Therefore, they protested against its import.

From the 1680s onwards, cotton and silk textiles had a large market in Europe. Such textiles made in India were popular because of their excellent quality, fine craftsmanship and low price. Among various varieties sold in the European markets, chintz, cossaes (or khassa), bandanna and jamdani were the most well-known.

In 1764, the spinning jenny was invented by John Kaye. The 'spinning jenny' was a spinning machine with multiple spindles, which significantly increased the production of yarn over the traditional spindles. The steam engine increased the speed of woven cloth production manifold, compared to the earlier manual weaving machines, also at a lower cost.
Thus, these two inventions revolutionised the textile industry in England by increasing significantly the production of cloth at a lower cost.

Jamsetji Tata, an Indian industrialist, wanted to set up a modern iron and steel plant in India, for which a good source of iron ore deposits and plentiful water were required. The Tatas set-up this plant in what is now known as Jamshedpur, which started production in 1912.
Expansion of the railways gave TISCO a ready market for steel rails during the First World War, which started in 1914. Soon they started producing carriage wheels and shells for the war effort.
By 1919, the British colonial government was buying 90 percent of the steel manufactured by TiSeO. Soon TiSeO became the biggest steel industry within the British empire.

The basic difference between India and Japan was that India was run by the British colonial government, while Japan was an independent country. While the colonial government in India, which wanted to expand the market for British goods, did not support Indian industrialists, the Japanese Government encouraged the growth of industries.
They did this by developing postal and telegraph services, railways and steam-powered shipping. They also imported advanced technology from the West and gave generous loans to industrialists, besides selling large industries started by the government to business families very cheaply. Thus in India, colonial domination created barriers to industrialization, while in Japan the fear of foreign conquest spurred industrialisation.