Q. Why did India industrialise only gradually in the time of Britishers ?
Answer: Britishers seized and handicapped Indian cottage industries
Notes: India was called ‘the industrial workshop of the world’ during the 17th and 18th centuries. Demand for Indian cotton goods in England during this time was unprecedented. Indian cotton cloth was considered by Englishmen as the badge of ‘style and fashion’ of the time. The economic policies followed by the British led to the rapid transformation of India's economy into a colonial economy whose nature and structure were determined by the needs of the British economy. They always remained foreigners in the land, exploiting Indian resources and carrying away India's wealth as tribute.
The first manufacturing industry was set up in India during the British rule. In 1854, the first cotton-textile mill was established in Bombay, immediately after the first railway line was constructed between Bombay and Thane.