India's share of world GDP
Also called: Maddison estimates · Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 4 "The Colonial Era in India"
Meaning
GDP is the total value of everything a country produces. The economist Angus Maddison estimated that India produced about 25 per cent (a quarter) of the world's GDP before colonial rule. By Independence in 1947, this share had fallen to hardly 5 per cent. So in less than two centuries, one of the richest lands in the world became one of the poorest. Indian economic historians use these figures to show the damage colonial rule did. Britain turned India into a supplier of raw materials and a market for British goods.
Example
Before the Company took power, Indian cotton and silk cloth led the world textile market. By 1850–51, cloth made only 3 per cent of India's exports. This collapse of a major industry helps explain why India's share of world GDP fell so sharply.
Related concepts
- Commercialisation of agriculture
- Canal colonies
- Dietrich Brandis
- Imperial Forest Department 1864
- Indian Forest Act 1878