Tag: foreign trade in india

Mostly fine cotton and silk were exported from India to markets in Europe, Asia, and Africa; by the second quarter of the 19th century, raw materials, which chiefly consisted of sugar, raw cotton, opium, and indigo, accounted for most of India's exports.

From the time of Pre-Independence India has been one of the important trading countries, exporting primary items like cotton, raw silk, sugar, wool, jute, and indigo, etc. and importer of finished consumer goods like woollen clothes, cotton, silk, and capital goods like light machinery manufactured in Britain.

Scarce resources in Indian domestic market was because the British exported manufactured goods in surplus because selling manufactured goods means making more money as a state. Having more money as a state in return means that it can reinvest and can help its citizens better.

Britain held the monopoly of over India's imports and exports. Most of the foreign trade was restricted only to Britain, while the rest half was allowed to trade with other countries like Ceylon (Sri Lanka), China, and Persia (Iran).

The reason why the British wanted to export manufactured goods is because selling manufactured goods means making more money as a state. Having more money as a state in return means that it can reinvest and can help its citizens better, or spend the money in any other way it had to, to keep the country going .The Britishers utilized the wealth earned from export not for India's development but to  purchase expensive  and materials from Britain for their own use.

The Suez Canal was important to the British because of the fact that they had such a large overseas empire. By the time that the canal was built, the most important part of their empire was India. The Suez Canal made it much easier for them to transport goods to and from India.  it is the shortest trade link between Europe and countries on the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Because the majority of the world's goods are transported via sea, the Suez Canal greatly reduces the time and cost of transporting goods.

They exported raw materials from India at cheap rates and imported finished goods from Britain which adversely affected the Indian industries and economy as a whole.The British imposed heavy duties on exportation of Indian goods and no duties were levied on British goods which benefited them. The British ruled India to drain its resources and thus turned India into a colonial economy. They adopt various policies and methods which adversely affected the Indian Economy. 

The basic purpose of human development is to improve the well-being of people. Human development is the science that seeks to understand how and why the people of all ages and circumstances change or remain the same over time