Due to British colonial rule, there was Deindustrialisation of colonial India during the first half of the nineteenth century. India was severely disadvantaged by the benefits of the industrial revolution. Deindustrialisation is the phenomenon of phased reduction or degradation of a nation’s or region’s industrial capacity. It is a type of economic change in which employment in the manufacturing sector declines for a variety of economic or political reasons. The term "Indian Economic Deindustrialisation" refers to a period of decline in industrial-based activities in the Indian economy that lasted from 1757 to 1947. Traditional handicraft industries began to decline in the 18th century and continued to decline rapidly until the beginning of the 19th century. This article on the Deindustrialisation of Colonial India will look into the nuances of India’s deindustrialization under British rule.

Deindustrialisation - An Overview

• The Britishers held it primarily agrarian in order to secure cheap raw materials for British industries and to take advantage of a ready market in India for British industrially produced goods. Deindustrialization has been used to describe the entire process.
• There was a disappearance of Indigenous courts that patronized handicrafts and regularly employed craftspeople.
• The Indian handicraft industries suffered greatly as a result of deindustrialization. Ruins of handicrafts led to the decline of industries, which led to unemployment and extreme poverty in the country.
• The British conquest resulted in the country's deindustrialization and increased reliance on agriculture.
• There are no figures for the earlier period, but according to Census Reports, the percentage of the population dependent on agriculture increased from 63.7 percent in 1901 to 70 percent in 1941.
• One of the major causes of India's extreme poverty under British rule was the increasing pressure on agriculture.
• In fact, India was now an agricultural colony of manufacturing Britain, which needed it for raw materials for its industries. Nowhere was the transformation more visible than in the cotton textile industry.
• While India had been the world's largest exporter of cotton goods for centuries, it was now an importer of British cotton products and an exporter of raw cotton.

Features of Deindustrialisation

• One Way Free Trade

  • After the Charter Act of 1813, which allowed one-way free trade for British citizens, cheap and machine-made imports flooded the Indian market.
  • The newly established rail network aided European products in reaching the most remote parts of the country. India went from being a net exporter to a net importer.
  • The Indian market was inundated with low-cost British-made clothing.
  • After 1820, Indian exports were virtually barred from European markets.
  • Tariffs of nearly 80% were imposed on Indian textiles, making Indian cloth no longer affordable.
  • On the other hand, Indian products found it increasingly difficult to enter European markets.

• No Steps towards Modern Industrialization

  • The loss of traditional livelihoods in India was not accompanied by an industrialization process, as it had been in other rapidly industrializing countries at the time.
  • This occurred at a time when Indian artisans and handicraftsmen were already feeling the pinch as a result of a loss of patronage from princes and nobility who were now influenced by new western tastes and values.
  • This resulted in India's deindustrialization at a time when Europe was experiencing a renewed Industrial Revolution.

• Ruralisation

  • Another feature of deindustrialisation was the decline of many cities, as well as India's ruralization process.
  • Many artisans abandoned their professions, moved to villages, and took up agriculture as a result of diminishing returns and repressive policies (during the Company's rule in Bengal, artisans were paid low wages and forced to sell their products at low prices).
  • As a result, there was more pressure on the land.
  • During British rule, an overburdened agriculture sector was a major source of poverty, upsetting the village's economic structure.
• Decline of India's traditional textile industry following the introduction of machine-made goods at a lower cost in the Indian subcontinent.
• Decline of the handicraft industry due to the British government's tariff policy that protected British-made goods.
• The manually skilled laborers and traders of the colonies were at the mercy of the international trade merchants in terms of supply or demand propagation in international trade markets.

Process of Deindustrialisation

• In the true and modern sense of the term, India is not an industrial country. However, by the standards of the 17th and 18th centuries, i.e., before the arrival of Europeans in India, India was the world's 'industrial workshop.'
• Furthermore, the "blending of agriculture and handicrafts" characterized India's traditional village economy.
• The British Government systematically slaughtered the village economy's internal balance.
• Traditional handicraft industries slipped from their pre-eminence in the process, and their decline began around the turn of the 18th century and continued rapidly almost to the beginning of the 19th century.
• The term deindustrialization referred to the "process of destruction of Indian handicraft industries by competition from British manufactured products during the nineteenth century."

Causes of Deindustrialisation

• The royal courts and urban aristocrats were the primary sources of demand for these handicrafts' products.
  • The abolition of the royal court eliminated one source of demand for these crafts' products and the craftsmen gradually closed their karkhanas.
• Following the virtual abolition of demand for the industry as a result of the disappearance of noble courts, the industry wished for a new source of demand from European officials and tourists, as well as from 'baboos' and black Indian 'sahibs.'
• The technological revolution that accelerated throughout the nineteenth century in the aftermath of the industrial revolution hastened the decline of traditional handicrafts.
• Paper manufacturing, glass manufacturing, iron smelting (in Mysore, Chhota Nagpur, and the Central Provinces), pottery, and other art industries were among those that were unable to make the necessary adjustments to withstand the savage onslaught of imported goods.
• Cheap and machine-made imports flooded the Indian market after the Charter Act of 1813 allowing one-way free trade for the British Citizens.
  • On the other hand, Indian products found it more and more difficult to penetrate the European markets.
• Tariffs of nearly 80 percent were imposed on Indian textiles so that Indian cloth could no longer be cheap. After 1820, European markets were virtually closed to Indian exports.
• Some argue that the decline of handicraft industries can also be attributed to flaws in the industrial structure.
  • For starters, no efforts were made to identify potential markets for products.
  • Foreigners controlled India's foreign trade. This meant that Indian artisans and producers were at the mercy of foreign merchants when it came to sales or demand propagation in foreign markets.

Outcome of Deindustrialisation

• It resulted in the devastation of India's handicraft industry and resulted in India's ruralization.
• The British put an end to the "blending of agriculture and handicrafts" by destroying the spinning wheel and breaking up the Indian handloom.
• The village economy's internal balance was shattered. As a result, artisans were forced out of their traditional occupations and turned to agriculture with no other options left.
• Agriculture's efficiency suffered as a result of overcrowding. The current problems of subdivision and fragmentation of landholdings and over-cultivation resulted in concealed unemployment and underemployment.
• Rural unemployment and underemployment were caused by an imbalance in occupational structure as a result of such deindustrialisation.
• The trade-to-GDP ratio fell, and international trade reshaped the domestic economy's structure. India became a major market for British-made cotton yarns and cloths, as well as a major supplier of grain.

Conclusion

Large-scale deindustrialization had far-reaching economic consequences, including the loss of the traditional economy, which was previously thought to be a blend of agriculture and handicrafts. India's deindustrialization has played a significant role in the country's underdevelopment and increasing poverty. As a result, the deindustrialisation process proved to be a disaster for millions of people.