The Acland Mill was the first jute mill established in India. The mill was established in 1855 by British entrepreneur George Acland and Bengali financier Babu Bysumber Sen in Rishra, Bengal Presidency, British India (present-day West Bengal, India).
Background
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, jute manufacturing in India and Bengal was inefficient and of poor quality. The Crimean War interrupted the supply of flax and hemp from the Russian Empire to Britain, which enabled the Bengali jute trade to permanently take the place of the flax and hemp supply. By the middle of the eighteenth century, Bengal exported large quantities of raw jute to supply the flax industry in Dundee.
The founder of the Acland Mill was George Acland, an English entrepreneur, owner of coffee plantations in Ceylon, and former marine in the East India Company's Marine, from Devonshire. He initially had the idea to grow rhea grass to serve as a substitute for flax and hemp, to make up for losses he had acquired through other business ventures. However, John Kerr, a machine manufacturer, advised Acland to manufacture jute products in Bengal instead.