Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 1 - The Decline and the Rise of the Indian Economy

  • Bishnupriya Gupta, University of Warwick
  • Book:
    An Economic History of India
    Published online:
    06 February 2025
    Print publication:
    13 February 2025, pp 16-42

  • Summary

    Chapter 1 provides a long view of the living standards and economic growth from the Mughal Empire to the end of British rule, followed by economic changes in independent India. Living standards are measured in terms of income categories such as average wages and estimates of per capita incomes. I show that Indian per capita GDP was 60 percent of British level in 1600. But Indian per capita GDP began to decline from the seventeenth century, well before the conquest of Bengal by the East India Company. It stabilized in the nineteenth century and stagnated until the end of colonial rule. The economy moved from stagnation to positive economic growth after independence until the policies of regulation and import substitution. Although the rate of growth was low compared to recent decades, it marked a structural break with its historical trend and set India on the path of modern economic growth.