The merchants and industrialists were earning huge profits from international markets. However, the colonial policies like free import duties were hurting their interests. Thus, they formed the Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries and the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920. The industrialists and the merchants supported the Civil Disobedience Movement initially to protect their own business interests. They gave monetary help and refused to buy and sell imported and foreign goods. However, later, the industrialists became apprehensive of the growing militant activities of the revolutionaries and the growing influence of socialists in the Congress