UPSC Mains 2024 GS1 Q13: model answer

India was a major exporter of cotton and silk textiles in the 18th century. By the late 19th century it exported raw cotton and imported Lancashire cloth. Historians call this de-industrialisation.

Role of the Industrial Revolution

• Machine-made cloth was far cheaper; Indian handloom could not compete on price.
• Britain needed raw material and markets, so India was turned into both.
• Railways after 1853 carried British goods deep into the interior.
• Protective tariffs in Britain shut out Indian textiles while Indian markets were opened.

Other causes

• Colonial policy: the Charter Act of 1813 ended the Company's monopoly and opened India to free trade one-sidedly.
• Loss of patrons: decline of princely courts reduced demand for luxury crafts.
• Company coercion: weavers in Bengal were forced to sell at low prices; famines also hit artisans.
• Changing tastes of Westernised Indian elites.
• Drain of wealth reduced domestic investment.

Assessment

• Dacca muslin and Bengal textiles suffered greatly; Dacca's population fell sharply.
• Yet handlooms survived in coarse cloth and some crafts; some historians argue the decline was uneven.
• The Industrial Revolution supplied the means, but colonial rule ensured India could not protect itself or industrialise in turn, as Japan did.

Thus the Industrial Revolution was a major cause, but it worked through colonial power. Without political control, India might have adapted as other economies did.