How did the Industrial Revolution in England affect India’s economy?

Industrial Revolution in England became the main cause of poverty in India. As India was a colony of England, it hit the Indian economy adversely. Due to the Industrial Revolution in England India’s economy was affected in the following ways:

• The Industrial Revolution enabled England to produce more goods than needed there. Indian markets were flooded with the machine made goods from England. In this way, India became a big consumer of the English goods.
• The Industrial Revolution in England threw the Indian artisans and handicrafts men out of job. As a result, small industries of India collapsed.
• The British Government forced the Indian farmers to sell their raw materials at cheap rates to the British factory owners. The policy of exploiting the Indian economy for the benefit of the British capitalist was the direct consequence of the Industrial Revolution on India’s economy.
• The unemployed artisans again became the farm labourers. They became a burden on the Indian agriculture. In this way, within very short-time, India became a poor country where agriculture was the only occupation of the people.
• Before the Industrial Revolution, India was the major producer of cotton, woollen and silken clothes. Now India suffered a severe setback in these industries. Clothes made by the British mills were cheaper than the Indian clothes.
• The Indian goods could not compete with the British goods. The British Government in India imposed heavy duties on the Indian goods and discouraged the Indian craftsmen ir. many ways so that they could never think of competing with the British goods.