Question

how did the economic policies of the British adversely affect the India economic

Answer 1

The British expanded at the expense of the Indians, and nothing that they did actually benefited the Indian locals. Put it this way, when the British came to India, they weren't even the richest in Europe, but when they were in charge they were.

By the end of the British rule - literacy rates were at 12%. This meant that very few people had the skills required to thrive, and this meant that India had to spend more money on education and had to take more socialistic governments, which created more equality and allowed greater access to healthcare etc, before we could liberalise the economy, as if we had done earlier, there was a risk that many people would struggle, or that our economy would have become like the Chinese.

However, I will argue that if the right government had been chosen after independance, a partnership of Sardar Patel as PM and Nehru or Bose as President, then we would have seen a far earlier conversion to capitalism and the huge economic growth would have seen more money is available for investment into healthcare and other key areas, thus hastening the development of the nation.

2. The British took all of the industry - for example the world famous hand loomed cotton and silk clothing that we produced, and destroyed them and took it all with them to the "great" manufacturing city of Manchester. This meant that the Indian's production had ceased and thus they had gradually lost their share of the worlds' economy, which slumped from 25% in 1700 to 2% in 1947.

Answer 2

The British ruled India to drain its resources and thus turned India into a colonial economy. They adopt various policies and methods which adversely affected the Indian Economy.

1.  They exported raw materials from India at cheap rates and imported finished goods from Britain which adversely affected the Indian industries and economy as a whole.

2. The British imposed heavy duties on exportation of Indian goods and no duties were levied on British goods. So the Indian goods could not compete in foreign markets On the other hand the cheap goods from Britain flooded the Indian markets which resulted De- industrialization in India and thus affected adversely the economy of India.

3. The policy of monopoly during the early stage of British rule also affected the Indian economy as it denied the bargaining power to Indian merchants.

4. The land revenue policy and taxation system of the British took most of the income from peasants and people which also adversely affected the economic condition of India.

5. The commercialization of agriculture policy also deteriorated the economic condition of India.

6. The Unilateral drain of wealth in the form of raw materials, salaries of officials, maintenance of British forces etc also adversely affected the Indian economy and made India a poor country.