IMPACT OF COLONIALISM

ON INDIAN INDUSTRY

Name: Vasundhra

Class: 2E

Enrollment No. : 25917703820

 COLONIALISM

Colonialism is the extension of a nation’s sovereignty over

territory beyond its borders by exploiting colonies
[economically] in which indigenous populations are directly
ruled, displaced or exterminated. Colonizing nations
generally dominate the resources, labor and markets of the
colonial territory.
 PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD OF INDIAN
INDUSTRY
• India had an independent economy before British
rule.
• Agriculture was the main source of livelihood for the
majority of the population, even though the country’s
economy was characterized by various kinds of
manufacturing activities.
• India had the great repute of its handicraft industries
in the fields of cotton and silk textiles, metal and
precious stone works etc. due to fine quality of
material used and the high standards of
craftsmanship.
– All these industries and handicrafts had its patronage of local
administrators for their gradual development. In the urban area each
handicraft was properly organized into a guild so as to safeguard their
common interest. These guilds were enacting their own laws which were
again respected by the then rulers of the country.
– The Indian industries not only supplied all local wants but also enabled
India to export its finished products to foreign countries. During those
days, Indian export items were consisting mostly of manufactured items
like cotton and silk fabrics, calicos, silk and woollen cloth and artistic
wares made of glass and metal.
 COLONISATION OF INDIAN INDUSTRIES
–Colonialism as a phenomenon entered into three phases :-
1.Between 1757-1813- Mercantile Phase- Britishers monopolized trade. It meant buying cheap raw material
and selling it at high prices.
2.Between 1813-1857- Industrial capitalism - The Indian goods had to face tough competition from machine
made goods in this phase.
3.1857 onwards- Financial capitalism - The economic policies followed by the British led to the rapid
 

transformation of India’s economy into a colonial economy where nature and structure were determined by
the needs of the British economy. 
After the arrival of British, these industries were destroyed slowly as the
Britishers followed the process of de-industrialization of Indian industries to
make way for British industries to flourish. The primary motive of Britishers
behind de-industrialization was two-fold:-

– (i) To make India a net exporter of raw materials to the British

industries at a cheap rate.
– (ii) To sell British products at a higher rate in the Indian market.
The Britishers followed discriminatory tariff policy.
Discriminatory tariff policy signifies free export of raw materials from
India, import of finished products from Britain, and a heavy duty on
export of Indian handicrafts.
CONSEQUENCES

– There was a massive import of machine made clothes from English factories to Indian markets. This
import of large amount of products manufactured by mechanical looms in England led to increase threat
for the handicraft industries.
– Indian handicrafts were taxed heavily when they were sent out of the country.
– Railways intensified the reach of these goods to remotest part of the country.
– within a few years, India from being an exporter of clothes became an exporter of raw cotton and an
importer of British clothes. This reversal made a huge impact on the Indian handloom weaving industry
leading to its virtual collapse.
– Indian artisans were forced to work in low wages and they ha to abandon their ancestral trade.
– Competition by cheap machine-made goods.
– This process of uneven competition faced by the Indian handloom industry was later dubbed by the
Indian nationalist leaders as de-industrialization.  
THANK
YOU