Charting the development of the engineering profession in India from 1900 to 1947, The Birth of an Indian Profession is the first synoptic history of engineers in modern India. Through detailed case studies of public works, railways, and industrial engineers, this book argues that changes in the profession were both caused by and contributed to industrialization in the country. Previously dominated by British expatriate engineers, the profession expanded, became considerable Indianized, and also diversified to include industrial experts.

Turning the spotlight on practitioners of technology and their professional lives, Aparajith Ramnath explores several themes including the work culture of engineers, their conception of their own identity, their status in society, and their relationship with the evolving colonial state. In doing so, he provides a fresh perspective on the history of science and technology in twentieth-century India.