UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Manchester cotton trade
Q1. The Charter Act of 1813, which opened the Indian market more widely to Lancashire cotton manufactures, ended the Indian trading monopoly of which body, and in respect of which single commodity was that monopoly nevertheless retained?
- A. The East India Company, whose monopoly was retained in respect of tea
- B. The East India Company, whose monopoly was retained in respect of raw cotton
- C. The Board of Control, whose monopoly was retained in respect of opium
- D. The Board of Control, whose monopoly was retained in respect of indigo
Q2. With reference to the mechanisation of cotton manufacture in Lancashire, consider the following:
1. The spinning jenny was invented by Richard Arkwright at Stanhill, near Blackburn, about 1764.
2. Manchester's first cotton mill was built in the early 1780s, and by 1830 the town had 99 cotton-spinning mills.
3. Fustian, woven in Lancashire from about 1620, was a cloth with a linen warp and a cotton weft.
4. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal, completed in 1816, served Blackburn both as a transport route and as a source of water.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- The spinning jenny was invented by Richard Arkwright at Stanhill, near Blackburn, about 1764.
- Manchester's first cotton mill was built in the early 1780s, and by 1830 the town had 99 cotton-spinning mills.
- Fustian, woven in Lancashire from about 1620, was a cloth with a linen warp and a cotton weft.
- The Leeds and Liverpool Canal, completed in 1816, served Blackburn both as a transport route and as a source of water.
- A. 1, 2 and 3
- B. 2, 3 and 4
- C. 1 and 4 only
- D. 3 only
Q3. Import duties on British cotton manufactures entering India were eliminated in 1879 by a Viceroy who felt obliged to overrule his entire council to accommodate that demand. Who was he?
- A. Lord Northbrook, Viceroy of India from 1872 to 1876
- B. Lord Lytton, Viceroy of India from 1876 to 1880
- C. Lord Ripon, Viceroy of India from 1880 to 1884
- D. Lord Mayo, Viceroy of India from 1869 to 1872
Q4. With reference to customs and excise policy affecting cotton goods in colonial India, consider the following:
1. A customs duty of 10 per cent levied in 1860 to help clear war debt was reduced to 7 per cent in 1864 and to 5 per cent in 1875.
2. Import duties on British piece goods and yarn were not reimposed until 1894.
3. In 1894 the Government of India was made to impose an "equalizing" excise duty of 10 per cent on all cloth manufactured in India.
4. The reimposition of the duty in 1894 followed a precipitous fall in the value of silver.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- A customs duty of 10 per cent levied in 1860 to help clear war debt was reduced to 7 per cent in 1864 and to 5 per cent in 1875.
- Import duties on British piece goods and yarn were not reimposed until 1894.
- In 1894 the Government of India was made to impose an "equalizing" excise duty of 10 per cent on all cloth manufactured in India.
- The reimposition of the duty in 1894 followed a precipitous fall in the value of silver.
- A. 1, 2 and 4
- B. 2 and 3 only
- C. 1, 3 and 4
- D. 1 and 2 only
Q5. Consider the following statements comparing India's position in cotton textiles before and after about 1800:
1. Machine-made cotton goods from Britain became a new factor after about 1800 and steadily undermined Indian handicraft industries, until all but the highest and the coarsest grades of cloth were squeezed out.
2. Whereas India had earlier been an exporter of finished cotton textiles, under colonial rule it was reduced to functioning as a supplier of raw materials to England and a consumer of the imported end product.
3. Romesh Chunder Dutt and Dinshaw Wacha rejected the drain-of-wealth argument advanced by Dadabhai Naoroji, holding instead that British rule had enriched India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- Machine-made cotton goods from Britain became a new factor after about 1800 and steadily undermined Indian handicraft industries, until all but the highest and the coarsest grades of cloth were squeezed out.
- Whereas India had earlier been an exporter of finished cotton textiles, under colonial rule it was reduced to functioning as a supplier of raw materials to England and a consumer of the imported end product.
- Romesh Chunder Dutt and Dinshaw Wacha rejected the drain-of-wealth argument advanced by Dadabhai Naoroji, holding instead that British rule had enriched India.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 2 and 3 only
- C. 1 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q6. With reference to the nationalist economic critique of colonial rule, consider the following:
1. British machine-made cotton goods after 1800 squeezed out every grade of Indian handloom cloth without exception.
2. The drain of wealth was detailed in the writings of Dadabhai Naoroji, Romesh Chunder Dutt and Dinshaw Wacha.
3. Naoroji elaborated his drain-of-wealth theory especially in Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901).
4. Naoroji's writings maintained that the imperialists had brought unmixed prosperity to the colonies.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- British machine-made cotton goods after 1800 squeezed out every grade of Indian handloom cloth without exception.
- The drain of wealth was detailed in the writings of Dadabhai Naoroji, Romesh Chunder Dutt and Dinshaw Wacha.
- Naoroji elaborated his drain-of-wealth theory especially in Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901).
- Naoroji's writings maintained that the imperialists had brought unmixed prosperity to the colonies.
- A. 1 and 3 only
- B. 2 and 3 only
- C. 2, 3 and 4
- D. 1, 2 and 4
Q7. In which year was the first spinning and weaving mill of the Indian cotton textile industry established in Bombay?
- A. 1817
- B. 1857
- C. 1877
- D. 1897
Q8. With reference to the growth of the cotton textile industry in western India in the nineteenth century, consider the following:
1. Ahmedabad's first cotton mills were opened in 1859–61.
2. With the opening of cotton mills in the mid-nineteenth century, Ahmedabad became India's largest inland industrial centre.
3. By 1860 Ahmedabad had become the largest cotton market in India.
4. The American Civil War cut off supplies of cotton from the American South to British mills, and mill owners turned to western India for their raw material.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- Ahmedabad's first cotton mills were opened in 1859–61.
- With the opening of cotton mills in the mid-nineteenth century, Ahmedabad became India's largest inland industrial centre.
- By 1860 Ahmedabad had become the largest cotton market in India.
- The American Civil War cut off supplies of cotton from the American South to British mills, and mill owners turned to western India for their raw material.
- A. 2, 3 and 4
- B. 1 and 3 only
- C. 1, 2 and 4
- D. 1 and 4 only
Q9. In the context of colonial India, the agitation launched in 1905 in which Surendranath Banerjea called for a boycott of Manchester cotton and Liverpool salt is best described as which one of the following?
- A. An anti-colonial agitation stressing self-sufficiency, promoting goods made in the country and boycotting British products
- B. A campaign by Indian mill owners for repeal of the countervailing excise duty imposed on cloth woven in Indian mills
- C. An agitation by Lancashire operatives for tariff protection of their yarn against competition from Indian mills
- D. A colonial government programme to expand exports of Indian handicraft cloth to markets in Britain and China
Q10. Manchester came to matter less as a cotton-manufacturing centre than as the commercial and financial nucleus of the trade, on whose floor the yarn and cloth of the entire industry was bought and sold. Which institution is being referred to?
- A. The Royal Exchange, Manchester, whose old trading floor is the largest room in Europe
- B. The Royal Exchange, London, rebuilt as the City's principal commercial meeting place
- C. The Manchester Ship Canal Company, incorporated to carry the district's trade to the sea
- D. The New York Cotton Exchange, the leading market for the American cotton crop
Q11. According to the archival report reprinted by The Hindu on 17 August 2026, which body launched the scheme fixing "basic" minimum prices for standard-quality American cotton yarns, with Manchester Exchange salesmen instructed to quote its list prices?
- A. The Manchester Chamber of Commerce, the district's association of merchants and shippers
- B. The Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' Associations, London, acting for the spinning employers
- C. The Liverpool Cotton Association, the trade body governing raw-cotton dealings
- D. The Royal Exchange, Manchester, on whose floor yarn and cloth were bought and sold
Q12. Within the Lancashire cotton district, the rapid nineteenth-century expansion of Bolton, Bury, Rochdale and Oldham rested chiefly on their specialisation in which branch of the industry?
- A. Cotton spinning
- B. Bleaching, dyeing and calico printing
- C. Broking and warehousing of imported raw cotton
- D. Manufacture of textile machinery for export