In the early 1800s imports of Indian cotton and silk goods faced duties of 70-80%. British imports faced duties of 2-4%!As a result, British imports of cotton manufactures into India increased by a factor of 50, and Indian exports dropped to one-fourth! A similar trend was noted in silk goods, woollens, iron, pottery, glassware and paper. Millions of ruined artisans and craftsmen, spinners, weavers, potters, smelters and smiths were rendered jobless and had to become landless agricultural workers. The monopoly on trade in salt and opium was an important mainstay of the Company’s finances. Prof. Richards notes that Together opium and salt produced on average 18.9 percent of gross revenues. In last fifteen years of Company rule their share climbed to 25.1 percent, as opium became one of the most valuable commodities sold in world commerce.
Most of the finished good prepared out of raw materials exported from India at very cheap rate were imported in India and were sold to large market of India. There is both way draining of money from India to Britain In 1800 India was world’s richest country but after independence it was reduced to country full of shit.
Indian Economy Reality and Fiction 