The British bought handloom raw materials at ------ prices from India
Answers
Explanation:
(i) Factories in Manchester started producing cotton textiles for the domestic market.
(ii) The government put more import duties on the textile coming from India to encourage the local industries. As a result, the Indian weavers lost their overseas market.
(iii) Eventually, the Manchester goods started flooding the Indian markets also and it became difficult for the Indian weavers to compete with the low cost Manchester cloth.
(iv) The British Government in India also levied more taxes on the handloom units which made the Indian textiles costlier in Indian markets when compared to the Manchester textiles.
(v) The Civil War in USA forced the British to buy more raw cotton from India for their Manchester textile industries. This created an acute shortage of raw material for the weavers and the Indian handloom industry collapsed.