He was the Diwan of Baroda from 1874, before moving to England, where he was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons, representing Finsbury Central between 1892 and 1895.

His book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India[3] brought attention to his theory of the Indian "wealth drain" into Britain.

In 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg inaugurated the Dadabhai Naoroji Awards for services to UK-India relations.

Being an Athornan (ordained priest), Naoroji founded the Rahnumai Mazdayasan Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1 August 1851 to restore the Zoroastrian religion to its original purity and simplicity.

In 1854, he also founded a Gujarati fortnightly publication, the Rast Goftar (The Truth Teller), to clarify Zoroastrian concepts and promote Parsi social reforms.

In December 1855, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Elphinstone College in Bombay,[9] becoming the first Indian to hold such an academic position.

The Association was instrumental in counter-acting the propaganda by the Ethnological Society of London which, in its session in 1866, had tried to prove the inferiority of the Asians to the Europeans.

[1][19][20] One of the reasons that the Drain theory is attributed to Naoroji is his decision to estimate the net national profit of India, and by extension, the effect that colonial rule had on the country.

[23] When referring to the drain, Naoroji stated that he believed some tribute was necessary as payment for the services that Britain brought to India such as the newly constructed railways.

[24] When elected to Parliament by a narrow margin of five votes, his first speech was devoted to the issue of questioning Britain's role in India.

[25] Naoroji identified himself as a fellow subject of the Empire and was able to address the economic hardships facing India to a British audience.

[23] Naoroji also found it important to examine Anglo-Indian trade to prevent the premature dissolution of budding industries to unfair valuing of goods and services.

[24] By allowing industry to grow and develop in India, tribute could be paid to Britain in the form of taxation and the increase in Indian interest for British goods.

Over time, Naoroji became more inflammatory in his comments as he began to lose patience with Britain over the seemingly lack of progress regarding reforms.

[26] Naoroji's work on the drain theory was the main reason behind the creation of the Royal Commission on Indian Expenditure in 1896 in which he was also a member.

Further development was checked by the frequent invasions of India by, and the subsequent continuous rule of, foreigners of entirely different character and genius, who, not having any sympathy with the indigenous literature – on the contrary, having much fanatical antipathy to the religion of the Hindus – prevented its further growth.

"[29] Bal Gangadhar Tilak admired him; he said: If we twenty eight crore of Indians were entitled to send only one member to the British parliament, there is no doubt that we would have elected Dadabhai Naoroji unanimously to grace that post.

[30]Here are the significant extracts taken from his speech delivered before the East India Association on 2 May 1867 regarding what educated Indians expect from their British rulers.

The difficulties thrown in the way of according to the natives such reasonable share and voice in the administration of the country ad they are able to take, are creating some uneasiness and distrust.

On 10 August 2022 English Heritage unveiled a blue plaque in his honour at the site of his former home,[31] 72, Anerley Park, Bromley, London where he lived between 1897 - 1904 or 1905.