Colonial economic policy
Also called: Colonial exploitation · Topic: Indian Economy on the Eve of Independence · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Indian Economy on the Eve of Independence"
Meaning
Colonial economic policy means the economic rules the British made in India. They were made to protect British interests, not to develop India. These policies made India a supplier of raw materials for Britain's growing factories and a consumer of British manufactured goods. This changed the structure of the Indian economy at its root, and it explains why India was so poor and undeveloped in 1947.
Example
Before British rule, India exported fine cotton and silk cloth. Under colonial policy it exported raw cotton to Britain instead. Machine-made cloth from Lancashire factories then came back to India almost duty-free. So Indians bought from British factories, not from Indian artisans. In the first half of the 20th century, per capita output grew by only about 0.5% a year.
Don't confuse with
- Drain of wealth: this is one result of colonial policy. It is the transfer of India's export surplus to Britain with nothing coming back. Colonial economic policy is the whole set of rules that caused this and other harms.