Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c6.s2.29

c6.s2.29

It is not easy to estimate the total number of such furnaces which may have been in operation in various parts of India in the eighteenth century. Certain mid-nineteenth century enumerations, however, place the number of furnaces operating in certain districts, talooks, etc., in hundreds. It is, therefore, probable that the number of iron and steel furnaces functioning throughout India in the latter part of the eighteenth century was in the region of 10,000. According to the data given in Chapter XV, the production of iron per furnace amounted to somewhat above half a ton per week. Assuming that a furnace on an average worked about 35-40 weeks a year, the potential production of iron per furnace may be assumed at 20 tons annually.