PERIOD OF INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM (1813 to 1858)

PERIOD OF INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM (1813 to 1858) By 1813, the East India Company had turned into a mere shadow of economic and political power. Now the
. British government wielded the real power in the interests of the British capitalist class as a whole. The interests of the industrialist capitalists, which emerged as a result of industrial revolution in England, were very different from those of the East India Company. The British industrialists needed foreign outlets for their ever-increasing output of manufactured goods. At the same time, the British indus­tries needed raw materials and the British people needed food stuff, which had to imported. So, there was a constant pressure on the British government to turn India as a subordinate trading partner, as a market to be exploited, and as a dependent colony to supply raw materials and foodstuffs. The British Indian government set out, after 1813, to transform Indian administration, economy and society to achieve exactly these ends.

British capitalists were given free entry into India. Free trade (only for the British) was introduced, and India's ports and markets were thrown open to British manufac­turers. Tariff rates for the entry of British rule were very nominal. But the free trade imposed on India was one-sided. Indian products, particularly those having potential to give stiff competition to British goods, were subjected to heavy import duties in Britain.

The second phase of British exploitation resulted in a steep rise in the burden of taxation on the Indian peasant. It may be noted that the introduction of the new pattern of economic exploitation did not mean that the earlier forms of exploitation came to an end. In fact, they became more inhumane.