Were The British Empire Responsible For The Collapse Of India Case Study

Prior to the East India Company’s establishment, Britain only accounted for 1.8% of the global GDP whereas India accounted for 23% of it. [Forbes, 1] India was one of the richest and most developed economies in the world. In fact, India and China together accounted for almost three-quarters of the global industrial output. However, India was “transformed by the process of imperial rule into one of the poorest, most backward, illiterate and diseased societies on earth by the time of our independence in 1947”. [Shashi Tharoor, 3] As a result, it is significant to note that at the time of India’s independence; India accounted for less than 3% of the global GDP whilst the British GDP tripled that amount. [Ibid] Industrialisation is the development of industries in an area. To what extent were the British Empire responsible for the collapse of India’s industrial output?

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The starting salary in the engineering service was £420 a year or about sixty times the average income of the Indian labour force. From 1757 to 1919, India also had to meet administrative expenses in London, first of the East India Company, and then of the India Office, as well as other minor but irritatingly extraneous charges. The cost of British staff was raised by long home leave in the UK, early retirement and lavish amenities in the form of subsidized housing, utilities, rest houses, etc.Under the rule of the East India Company, official transfers to the UK rose gradually until they reached about £3.5 million in 1856, the year before the mutiny. In addition, there were private remittances. In the twenty years 1835-54, India's average annual balance on trade and bullion was favourable by about £4.5 million a year. Ultimately, this lead to a massive dent in India’s overall budget even a 100 years later (post-Independence). [Patel,