Why did the British lead to the destruction of India's traditional cotton industry? Discuss.
India’s cotton textile industry, once world-renowned, suffered systematic decline under British colonial policies. First, heavy tariffs were imposed on Indian finished goods entering Britain, while British machine-made textiles entered India almost duty-free. This created an unequal playing field, crippling Indian exports and displacing artisanal weavers.
Second, India was restructured as a supplier of raw cotton to British factories. Domestic weaving declined as Indian cotton fed Lancashire mills, while the Indian market became flooded with mass-produced, cheaper British textiles. Third, active suppression of indigenous industries worsened matters. Local artisans and weavers, unable to compete with mechanized imports, were pushed into unemployment.
This process of deindustrialisation dismantled a centuries-old sector that had been the backbone of Indian exports and employment. Its destruction forced millions of skilled workers back into agriculture, swelling rural underemployment and poverty. Thus, deliberate colonial policy, not natural decline, drove the collapse of India’s textile economy.
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