One-Way Free Trade

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 per cent were imposed on Indian

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Views

The misery hardly finds a parallel in the history of commerce; the bones of cotton weavers are bleaching the plains of north India.

—William Bentinck The armour of the isolated self-sufficient village was pierced by the steel rail, and its life blood ebbed away.

—D.H. Buchanan

textiles so that Indian cloth could no longer be cheap. After 1820, European markets were virtually closed to Indian exports. Cheap British made cloth flooded the Indian market. The newly introduced rail network helped the European products to reach the remotest corners of the country. From being a net exporter, India became a net importer.

No Steps towards Modern Industrialisation The loss of traditional livelihood was not accompanied by a process of industrialisation in India, as had happened in other rapidly industrialising countries of the time. This resulted in deindustrialisation of India at a time when Europe was witnessing a reintensified Industrial Revolution. This happened at a time when Indian artisans and handicraftsmen were already feeling the crunch due to loss of patronage by princes and the nobility, who were now under the influence of new western tastes and values.