Impact of Industrial Revolution on India

During the first half of the 19th century, the British Industrial Revolution led to a massive influx of cheap, machine-made British textiles into the Indian market. Coupled with discriminatory British tariff policies, this influx decimated the traditional Indian handloom and handicraft industries (de-industrialization). Railways were introduced later (1853), and machines were not immediately introduced in India. Heavy duties were imposed on Indian exports, not British imports. > One-line conceptual takeaway: Colonial economic policies systematically de-industrialized India to serve British manufacturing interests. Answer: (a).