NCERT Class 10 · Chapter IV
The Age of Industrialisation
Comprehensive notes covering proto-industrialisation, British Industrial Revolution, Indian textile decline, factory growth in India, and market strategies — with UPSC-standard MCQs.
🏭 Proto-Industrialisation
🇬🇧 Britain’s Revolution
🧵 Indian Textiles
🏗️ Factories in India
📢 Market & Ads
📝 10 UPSC MCQs
📋 Table of Contents
Intro Setting the Context
In 1900, music publisher E.T. Paull produced a music book with a cover titled ‘Dawn of the Century’ — showing an angel of progress perched on a winged wheel, with signs of progress (railway, camera, machines, printing press, factory) floating behind her. This glorification of machines and technology reflected the popular understanding of industrialisation as purely progressive.
A trade magazine of the same era showed Two Magicians: Aladdin from the Orient (representing the East and the past) and a modern mechanic (representing the West and modernity). This captures a biased western narrative of industrialisation.
📖 New Word: Orient — The countries to the east of the Mediterranean, usually referring to Asia. The term arises out of a western viewpoint that sees this region as pre-modern, traditional, and mysterious.
This chapter questions such triumphant narratives. It focuses first on Britain — the first industrial nation, and then on India — where industrial change was conditioned by colonial rule.
01 Before the Industrial Revolution — Proto-Industrialisation
We often associate industrialisation only with factory production. But even before factories appeared in England and Europe, there was large-scale industrial production for an international market — NOT based on factories. Historians call this phase proto-industrialisation.
📖 New Word: Proto — Indicating the first or early form of something. Proto-industrialisation = the phase of large-scale industrial production that preceded the factory age.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, merchants from European towns moved to the countryside, supplying money to peasants and artisans and persuading them to produce for an international market. With the expansion of world trade and acquisition of colonies, demand for goods grew. But merchants could NOT expand production within towns because:
| Urban Guilds | Associations of producers that trained craftspeople, maintained control over production, regulated competition and prices, and restricted the entry of new people into the trade. |
|---|---|
| Guild Power | Rulers granted different guilds monopoly right to produce and trade in specific products. It was difficult for new merchants to set up business in towns. |
| Solution | Merchants turned to the countryside, where poor peasants and artisans worked for them. |
Fig. 3 – Spinning in the eighteenth century. You can see each member of the family involved in the production of yarn. Notice that one wheel is moving only one spindle — the limitation of pre-industrial household production that the Spinning Jenny would later overcome.
In the countryside, poor peasants and artisans eagerly worked for merchants. Commons were being enclosed, open fields disappearing — cottagers had to look for alternative income. Many had tiny plots of land that could not provide work for all household members. By working for merchants, they could remain in the countryside and continue to cultivate their small plots. Income from proto-industrial production supplemented their shrinking income from cultivation.
🏭 The English Putting-Out / Clothier System (UPSC Important)
A merchant clothier in England purchased wool from a wool stapler, carried it to spinners; the yarn was taken to weavers, then fullers, then to dyers. The finishing was done in London before the export merchant sold the cloth in the international market. London came to be known as a finishing centre.At each stage of production 20 to 25 workers were employed by each merchant — meaning each clothier controlled hundreds of workers.
New Words:
• Stapler — A person who ‘staples’ or sorts wool according to its fibre
• Fuller — A person who ‘fulls’ — gathers cloth by pleating
• Carding — The process in which fibres (cotton or wool) are prepared prior to spinning
1.1 The Coming Up of the Factory
1730s
Earliest factories in England came up. Number multiplied only in the late 18th century.1760
Britain importing 2.5 million pounds of raw cotton to feed its cotton industry. First symbol of the new era was cotton.1787
Cotton import soared to 22 million pounds.18th century
Series of inventions increased efficacy of each step of production (carding, twisting, spinning, rolling) — enhanced output per worker, produced stronger threads.Key invention
Richard Arkwright created the cotton mill — bringing all processes under one roof and management. Allowed careful supervision, quality control, and regulation of labour.
Fig. 7 – A spinning factory in 1830. Giant wheels moved by steam power could set in motion hundreds of spindles to manufacture thread — a dramatic contrast to Fig. 3 where one wheel moved only one spindle.
1.2 The Pace of Industrial Change
Industrialisation was NOT as rapid or uniform as commonly believed. Four important qualifications:
| 1. Leading Industries | Most dynamic industries were cotton and metals. Cotton was the leading sector up to the 1840s; after that, iron and steel led. By 1873, Britain was exporting iron and steel worth about £77 million — double the value of its cotton export. |
|---|---|
| 2. Traditional Industries Not Displaced | Even at the end of the 19th century, less than 20% of the total workforce was employed in technologically advanced industrial sectors. Textiles was dynamic but a large portion of output was produced outside factories, within domestic units. |
| 3. Small Innovations | Pace of change in ‘traditional’ industries was not set by steam-powered industries. Small innovations drove growth in food processing, building, pottery, glass work, tanning, furniture making, production of implements. |
| 4. Slow Technological Change | New technology was expensive; merchants and industrialists were cautious about using it. Machines often broke down; repair was costly. They were not as effective as inventors claimed. |
⚙️ Case Study: The Steam Engine (UPSC Important)
James Watt improved the steam engine produced by Newcomen and patented the new engine in 1781. His industrialist friend Mathew Boulton manufactured the new model. But for years he could find no buyers.At the beginning of the 19th century, there were no more than 321 steam engines all over England: 80 in cotton industries, 9 in wool industries, and the rest in mining, canal works, and iron works. Steam engines were NOT used in other industries till much later.
Key conclusion: The typical worker in the mid-19th century was NOT a machine operator but the traditional craftsperson and labourer.
02 Hand Labour and Steam Power
In Victorian Britain, there was no shortage of human labour. Poor peasants and vagrants moved to cities in large numbers seeking jobs. When there is plenty of labour, wages are low. So industrialists had no problem of labour shortage or high wage costs — they did not want to introduce machines that required large capital investment.
| Seasonal Demand | In many industries demand for labour was seasonal. Gas works and breweries were especially busy in cold months. Bookbinders and printers needed extra hands before December (Christmas demand). At waterfronts, winter was the time ships were repaired. |
|---|---|
| Preference for Hand Labour | In industries where production fluctuated with the season, industrialists preferred hand labour, employing workers for the season. |
| Intricate Products | Many products could be produced only with hand labour. Machines were oriented to producing uniform, standardised goods for mass markets. But demand was often for goods with intricate designs. In mid-19th-century Britain, 500 varieties of hammers and 45 kinds of axes were produced — requiring human skill, not mechanical technology. |
| Upper-class Preference | In Victorian Britain, upper classes — aristocrats and bourgeoisie — preferred things produced by hand. Handmade products symbolised refinement and class. Machine-made goods were for export to the colonies. |
| Contrast with America | In countries with labour shortage (like 19th-century America), industrialists were keen on mechanical power. Britain, however, had no problem hiring human hands. |
📄 Source A — Will Thorne: Job-seekers Walking to London (UPSC Important)
Will Thorne described walking to London in November 1881 with two friends in search of seasonal work at the Old Kent Road Gas Works: “Some days we walked as much as twenty miles…For two nights we slept out — once under a haystack, and once in an old farm shed…”Quoted in Raphael Samuel, ‘Comers and Goers’, in H.J. Dyos and Michael Wolff, eds, The Victorian City: Images and Realities, 1973.
This illustrates the abundant supply of cheap labour in Victorian Britain and why industrialists preferred it over machines.
2.1 Life of the Workers
The abundance of labour in the market deeply affected workers’ lives. Getting jobs depended on existing networks of friendship and kin relations. Many job-seekers had to wait weeks, spending nights under bridges or in night shelters.
| Night Refuges | Set up by private individuals |
|---|---|
| Casual Wards | Maintained by the Poor Law authorities (staying was humiliating — medical examination, body cleansed, clothes purified, hard labour required) |
| Seasonal Unemployment | After busy season, poor were on streets again. At best of times till mid-19th century, about 10% of the urban population were extremely poor. In periods of economic slump like the 1830s, unemployed went up to 35–75% in different regions. |
| Napoleonic War Effect | When prices rose sharply during the prolonged Napoleonic War, the real value of workers’ wages fell significantly. |
⚙️ Spinning Jenny — Workers’ Resistance (UPSC Important)
Spinning Jenny — Devised by James Hargreaves in 1764. By turning one single wheel a worker could set in motion a number of spindles and spin several threads at the same time. This speeded up the spinning process and reduced labour demand.When the Spinning Jenny was introduced in the woollen industry, women who survived on hand spinning began attacking the new machines. This conflict continued for a long time.
Source B — A magistrate in 1790 described being called to protect a manufacturer’s property: ‘From the depredations of a lawless Banditti of colliers and their wives, for the wives had lost their work to spinning engines…avowing their intention of cutting to pieces the machine…which they suppose, if generally adopted, will lessen the demand for manual labour.’
— J.L. Hammond and B. Hammond, The Skilled Labourer 1760-1832
🏗️ After the 1840s — Building Activity: Building activity intensified in cities, opening up greater employment opportunities. Roads widened, new railway stations came up, railway lines extended, tunnels dug, drainage and sewers laid, rivers embanked. The number of workers employed in the transport industry doubled in the 1840s, and doubled again in the subsequent 30 years.
03 Industrialisation in the Colonies — India
3.1 The Age of Indian Textiles
Before the age of machine industries, silk and cotton goods from India dominated the international market in textiles. Coarser cottons were produced in many countries, but the finer varieties often came from India.
| Trade Routes | Armenian and Persian merchants took goods from Punjab to Afghanistan, eastern Persia, and Central Asia. Bales of fine textiles were carried on camel back via the north-west frontier, through mountain passes and across deserts. |
|---|---|
| Pre-colonial Ports | Surat (Gujarat coast) — connected India to the Gulf and Red Sea Ports Masulipatam (Coromandel coast) — trade links with Southeast Asian ports Hoogly (Bengal) — trade links with Southeast Asian ports |
| Supply Chain | Indian merchants and bankers financed production, carried goods, supplied exporters. Supply merchants linked port towns to inland regions — gave advances to weavers, procured woven cloth from weaving villages, carried supply to ports. At ports, big shippers had brokers who negotiated prices. |
| By 1750s | This network, controlled by Indian merchants, was breaking down. |
Fig. 13 – The English factory at Surat, a seventeenth-century drawing. Surat was the nerve centre of Indian ocean trade. In the last years of the 17th century, the gross value of trade through Surat was Rs 16 million. By the 1740s it had slumped to Rs 3 million — a dramatic symbol of colonial disruption of Indian trade.
📉 Decline of Old Ports: European companies gradually gained power — first securing concessions from local courts, then monopoly rights to trade. This resulted in the decline of old ports of Surat and Hoogly. While Surat and Hoogly decayed, Bombay and Calcutta grew. This shift was an indicator of the growth of colonial power. Trade through new ports was controlled by European companies and carried in European ships.
3.2 What Happened to Weavers?
After the East India Company consolidated power (1760s), it was initially keen on expanding textile exports from India — British cotton industries had not yet expanded and Indian fine textiles were in great demand in Europe.
Once the EIC established political power, it asserted a monopoly right to trade and developed a system to eliminate competition, control costs, and ensure regular supplies. This was done through:
| Step 1: Gomastha System | The Company tried to eliminate existing traders and brokers. It appointed a paid servant called the gomastha to supervise weavers, collect supplies, and examine quality of cloth. |
|---|---|
| Step 2: System of Advances | Company prevented weavers from dealing with other buyers. Once an order was placed, weavers were given loans to purchase raw material. Those who took loans had to hand over cloth to the gomastha — could not take it to any other trader. |
| Effect on Weavers | Weavers eagerly took advances hoping to earn more. Many had to lease out their land and devote all time to weaving. Weaving required labour of the entire family — children and women all engaged. |
| Conflict | Clashes between weavers and gomasthas in many weaving villages. Earlier supply merchants lived within villages with close relationships. New gomasthas were outsiders — acted arrogantly, marched in with sepoys and peons, punished weavers by beating and flogging. |
| Outcome | Weavers lost bargaining power. Price from Company was miserably low. In Carnatic and Bengal, weavers deserted villages and migrated. Some revolted. Over time many began refusing loans, closing workshops, and taking to agricultural labour. |
📖 New Word: Sepoy — This is how the British pronounced the word sipahi, meaning an Indian soldier in the service of the British.
3.3 Manchester Comes to India
In 1772, Company official Henry Patullo had said that demand for Indian textiles could never reduce. Yet by the beginning of the 19th century there was a long decline in textile exports from India.
| Piece-goods exports decline | 33% of India’s exports (1811-12) → only 3% by 1850-51 |
|---|---|
| Why? | As cotton industries developed in England, industrial groups pressurised government to impose import duties on cotton textiles so Manchester goods could sell in Britain without competition. Industrialists also persuaded EIC to sell British manufactures in Indian markets. |
| British cotton imports into India | Virtually no import at end of 18th century → 31% of value of Indian imports by 1850 → over 50% by the 1870s |
| Double Crisis for Weavers | (1) Export market collapsed; (2) Local market shrank, glutted with Manchester imports. Machine-made goods were so cheap that weavers could not compete. |
| 1860s — Raw Cotton Crisis | American Civil War cut off US cotton supplies from Britain. Britain turned to India for raw cotton → raw cotton exports from India increased → price of raw cotton shot up → Indian weavers starved of supplies, forced to buy raw cotton at exorbitant prices → weaving could not pay. |
| End of 19th century | Factories in India began production, flooding market with machine-goods. |
📄 Source C — Commissioner of Patna on Manchester Competition
“It appears that twenty years ago, a brisk trade was carried on in the manufacture of cloth at Jahanabad, and Behar, which has in the former place entirely ceased, while in the latter the amount of manufacture is very limited, in consequence of the cheap and durable goods from Manchester with which the Native manufactures are unable to compete.”— Quoted in J. Krishnamurty, ‘Deindustrialisation in Gangetic Bihar during the nineteenth century’, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 1985.
📄 Source D — Census Report on Koshtis (Weavers)
“The Koshtis, like the weavers of the finer kinds of cloth in other parts of India, have fallen upon evil times. They are unable to compete with the showy goods which Manchester sends in such profusion, and they have of late years emigrated in great numbers, chiefly to Berar, where as day labourers they are able to obtain wages…”— Census Report of Central Provinces, 1872
04 Factories Come Up in India
Chronology of First Factories
1854
First cotton mill in Bombay came up; went into production two years later.1862
Four mills at work in Bombay with 94,000 spindles and 2,150 looms. First jute mill in Bengal set up in 1855; another in 1862.1860s
Elgin Mill started in Kanpur; first cotton mill of Ahmedabad set up.1874
First spinning and weaving mill of Madras began production.1912
J.N. Tata set up the first iron and steel works in India at Jamshedpur.1917
Seth Hukumchand set up the first Indian jute mill in Calcutta.4.1 The Early Entrepreneurs
The history of many Indian business groups goes back to trade with China. From the late 18th century, the British in India exported opium to China and took tea from China to England. Many Indians became junior players in this trade.
| Bengal | Dwarkanath Tagore — made fortune in China trade; set up six joint-stock companies in the 1830s and 1840s. (Enterprises sank in business crises of the 1840s.) |
|---|---|
| Bombay (Parsis) | Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata — accumulated initial wealth partly from exports to China, partly from raw cotton shipments to England. |
| Calcutta (Marwari) | Seth Hukumchand — traded with China; set up first Indian jute mill in Calcutta in 1917. |
| G.D. Birla | Father and grandfather both traded with China. Famous industrialist of 20th century. |
| Madras merchants | Some traded with Burma; others had links with Middle East and East Africa. |
Fig. 18 – Partners in enterprise — J.N. Tata, R.D. Tata, Sir R.J. Tata, and Sir D.J. Tata. In 1912, J.N. Tata set up the first iron and steel works in India at Jamshedpur. Iron and steel industries in India started much later than textiles. In colonial India, industrial machinery, railways and locomotives were mostly imported. So capital goods industries could not really develop in any significant way till Independence.
⚠️ European Managing Agencies (UPSC Important): Till the First World War, European Managing Agencies controlled a large sector of Indian industries. Three of the biggest were Bird Heiglers & Co., Andrew Yule, and Jardine Skinner & Co. These Agencies mobilised capital, set up joint-stock companies and managed them. In most instances, Indian financiers provided the capital while European Agencies made all investment and business decisions. European merchant-industrialists had their own chambers of commerce which Indian businessmen were NOT allowed to join.
Fig. 22 – The first office of the Madras Chamber of Commerce. By the late 19th century, merchants in different regions began meeting and forming Chambers of Commerce to regulate business and decide on issues of collective concern — partly in response to their exclusion from European chambers.
4.2 Where Did the Workers Come From?
| Numbers | In 1901: 584,000 workers in Indian factories. By 1946: over 2,436,000. |
|---|---|
| Source | In most industrial regions, workers came from surrounding districts. Peasants and artisans who found no work in the village went to industrial centres. Workers moved between village and city — returning during harvests and festivals. |
| Example — Bombay | Over 50% of workers in Bombay cotton industries in 1911 came from the neighbouring district of Ratnagiri. |
| Example — Kanpur | Mills of Kanpur got most textile workers from villages within the district of Kanpur. |
| The Jobber System | Industrialists employed a jobber to get new recruits — usually an old and trusted worker. He got people from his village, ensured them jobs, helped them settle in the city, and provided money in times of crisis. The jobber became a person with authority and power, demanding money and gifts for his favour. |
📄 Source E — The Millworker and his Village (UPSC Important)
Vasant Parkar, millworker in Bombay: ‘The workers would pay the jobbers money to get their sons work in the mill…The mill worker was closely associated with his village, physically and emotionally. He would go home to cut the harvest and for sowing. The Konkani would go home to cut the paddy and the Ghati, the sugarcane. It was an accepted practice for which the mills granted leave.’
— Meena Menon and Neera Adarkar, One Hundred Years: One Hundred Voices, 2004.
📄 Source F — Working Conditions in Bombay Mills
Bhai Bhosle, a trade unionist: ‘In those days, the shift was 10 hours — from 5 pm to 3 am — terrible working hours. My father worked for 35 years; he got the asthma like disease and could not work any more…Then my father went back to village.’
— Meena Menon and Neera Adarkar, One Hundred Years: One Hundred Voices.
05 The Peculiarities of Industrial Growth
European Managing Agencies dominated industrial production in India and were interested in tea and coffee plantations, mining, indigo, and jute — primarily for export trade, not for sale in India.
Indian Businessmen’s Strategy
When Indian businessmen began setting up industries in the late 19th century, they avoided competing with Manchester goods in the Indian market.
| Early Cotton Mills | Produced coarse cotton yarn (thread) rather than fabric — since yarn was not an important part of British imports. Superior variety yarn was imported when needed. Yarn produced in Indian spinning mills was used by handloom weavers in India or exported to China. |
|---|---|
| Early 20th century changes | Swadeshi movement gathered momentum — nationalists mobilised people to boycott foreign cloth. Industrial groups organised to pressure government for tariff protection. From 1906, export of Indian yarn to China declined (Chinese and Japanese mills flooded the Chinese market). |
| Shift to cloth | Industrialists shifted from yarn to cloth production. Cotton piece-goods production in India doubled between 1900 and 1912. |
| Till WWI | Industrial growth was slow. |
⚔️ World War I — Turning Point for Indian Industry (UPSC Critical)
The war created a dramatically new situation:• British mills were busy with war production → Manchester imports into India declined
• Indian mills had a vast home market to supply
• Indian factories were called upon to supply war needs: jute bags, cloth for army uniforms, tents, leather boots, horse and mule saddles
• New factories were set up; old ones ran multiple shifts; workers worked longer hours
• Industrial production boomed
After the war: Manchester could never recapture its old position in the Indian market. Britain’s economy crumbled — unable to modernise and compete with the US, Germany and Japan. Within the colonies, local industrialists gradually consolidated their position, substituting foreign manufactures and capturing the home market.
5.1 Small-scale Industries Predominate
| Concentration | About 67% of large industries in 1911 were located in Bengal and Bombay. Over the rest of the country, small-scale production continued to predominate. |
|---|---|
| Factory Workers % | Only a small proportion of total industrial labour force worked in registered factories: 5% in 1911 and 10% in 1931. The rest worked in small workshops and household units in alleys and bylanes. |
Fig. 24 – Location of large-scale industries in India, 1931. The circles indicate the size of industries in the different regions. Bombay and Bengal clearly dominated — accounting for about 67% of all large industries. Other centres include Madras, Bihar, United Provinces, Punjab, and Central Provinces.
🧵 Handloom Survival — Why Weavers Survived (UPSC Important):
While cheap machine-made thread wiped out the spinning industry in the 19th century, the weavers survived. In the 20th century, handloom cloth production expanded steadily — almost trebling between 1900 and 1940.
Reasons:
1. Fly Shuttle Technology: By the second decade of the 20th century, weavers used looms with a fly shuttle — increased productivity per worker, speeded up production, reduced labour demand. By 1941, over 35% of handlooms in India were fitted with fly shuttles; in Travancore, Madras, Mysore, Cochin, Bengal the proportion was 70–80%.
2. Specialised Products: Mills could not imitate specialised weaves. Saris with woven borders, famous lungis and handkerchiefs of Madras, could not be easily displaced. Famines did not affect sale of Banarasi or Baluchari saris.
3. Finer vs. Coarser: Demand for finer varieties (bought by well-to-do) was more stable than coarser cloth (bought by the rural poor).
While cheap machine-made thread wiped out the spinning industry in the 19th century, the weavers survived. In the 20th century, handloom cloth production expanded steadily — almost trebling between 1900 and 1940.
Reasons:
1. Fly Shuttle Technology: By the second decade of the 20th century, weavers used looms with a fly shuttle — increased productivity per worker, speeded up production, reduced labour demand. By 1941, over 35% of handlooms in India were fitted with fly shuttles; in Travancore, Madras, Mysore, Cochin, Bengal the proportion was 70–80%.
2. Specialised Products: Mills could not imitate specialised weaves. Saris with woven borders, famous lungis and handkerchiefs of Madras, could not be easily displaced. Famines did not affect sale of Banarasi or Baluchari saris.
3. Finer vs. Coarser: Demand for finer varieties (bought by well-to-do) was more stable than coarser cloth (bought by the rural poor).
📖 New Word: Fly Shuttle — A mechanical device used for weaving, moved by means of ropes and pulleys. It places the horizontal threads (called the weft) into the vertical threads (called the warp). The invention of the fly shuttle made it possible for weavers to operate large looms and weave wide pieces of cloth.
06 Market for Goods — Advertisements & Consumer Culture
When new products are produced, people have to be persuaded to buy them. Advertisements make products appear desirable and necessary — shaping minds and creating new needs. From the very beginning of the industrial age, advertisements played a part in expanding markets and shaping a new consumer culture.
Manchester Labels in India
When Manchester industrialists began selling cloth in India, they put labels on the cloth bundles. Labels made the place of manufacture and company name familiar to buyers, and served as a mark of quality. The words ‘MADE IN MANCHESTER’ in bold were expected to instil buyer confidence.
| Gods and Goddesses on Labels | Images of Indian gods and goddesses (Krishna, Saraswati, Kartika, Lakshmi) regularly appeared on labels — as if association with gods gave divine approval to goods being sold. Also made foreign manufactures appear familiar to Indian people. |
|---|---|
| Historical Figures | Figures of emperors and nawabs adorned advertisements. Message: if you respect the royal figure, then respect this product. E.g., Maharaja Ranjit Singh on a Manchester label. God Vishnu on Sunlight Soap calendar (1934) — shown bringing sunlight from across the skies. |
| Calendars | By the late 19th century, manufacturers were printing calendars to popularise products. Unlike newspapers, calendars were used even by people who could not read. Hung in tea shops and poor people’s homes — forcing viewers to see advertisements day after day, through the year. |
| Baby Products | Image of baby Krishna was most commonly used to popularise baby products. E.g., Gripe Water calendar of 1928 by M.V. Dhurandhar. |
| Indian Nationalist Advertising | When Indian manufacturers advertised, the nationalist message was clear: ‘If you care for the nation then buy products that Indians produce.’ Advertisements became a vehicle of the nationalist message of swadeshi. E.g., An Indian mill cloth label showing a goddess offering cloth produced in an Ahmedabad mill and asking people to use things made in India. |
📌 Conclusion (NCERT): The age of industries has meant major technological changes, growth of factories, and the making of a new industrial labour force. However, hand technology and small-scale production remained an important part of the industrial landscape. Weavers and craftspeople were not simply remnants of past times — their life and labour was integral to the process of industrialisation.
📊 Chapter Master Summary
| Proto-Industrialisation | 17th–18th century; merchants employed rural artisans; no factories; London as finishing centre; each clothier controlled hundreds of workers |
|---|---|
| First Factories (Britain) | 1730s onwards; Richard Arkwright’s cotton mill; James Watt’s steam engine (1781); cotton led to 1840s, then iron & steel |
| Labour in Britain | Abundant cheap labour; no labour shortage; seasonal employment; Spinning Jenny (Hargreaves, 1764) faced worker resistance; after 1840s building boom employed many |
| Indian Textiles Pre-colonial | India dominated international textile market; Surat, Masulipatam, Hoogly as key ports; Rs 16 mn trade through Surat (17th c.) → Rs 3 mn by 1740s |
| EIC’s Control over Weavers | Gomastha system + advance system → weavers tied to Company; clashes; weavers migrated or took to agriculture |
| Manchester Competition | Piece-goods exports: 33% (1811-12) → 3% (1850-51); British cotton imports into India: 0% (18th c.) → 31% (1850) → 50%+ (1870s) |
| First Indian Factories | First Bombay cotton mill (1854); first jute mill Bengal (1855); first Ahmedabad cotton mill (1861); first iron & steel Jamshedpur (1912) |
| Workers | 1901: 584,000 factory workers; 1946: 2,436,000; mostly from surrounding districts; jobber system; tied to village |
| WWI Impact | Manchester imports declined; Indian mills got home market; industrial production boomed; Manchester never recaptured position |
| Small-scale dominance | 67% large industries in Bengal & Bombay (1911); only 5% of industrial workforce in registered factories (1911), 10% (1931) |
| Handloom Survival | Handloom cloth production nearly trebled (1900–1940); fly shuttle adoption (35%+ by 1941); specialised weaves mills couldn’t copy |
📝 UPSC-Standard MCQs — The Age of Industrialisation
Q1 Which of the following best defines ‘proto-industrialisation’ as used in the context of European economic history?
A) The early phase of factory-based industrial production in England in the 1730s
✓ AnsB) Large-scale industrial production for an international market that was NOT based on factories, involving merchants employing rural artisans
C) The period when steam-powered machines replaced hand labour in European workshops
D) The phase when trade guilds expanded their monopoly rights in European towns
Proto-industrialisation refers to the phase preceding the factory age when merchants from towns employed rural peasants and artisans to produce for an international market. This was NOT factory-based production — goods were produced within family farms and village households under the supervision of merchant clothiers.
Q2 Consider the following statements about the Spinning Jenny:
1. It was devised by Richard Arkwright in 1764.
2. By turning one wheel, a worker could set in motion multiple spindles and spin several threads simultaneously.
3. Women workers in the woollen industry attacked the Spinning Jenny because it reduced labour demand.
4. It was first introduced in the cotton industry.
2. By turning one wheel, a worker could set in motion multiple spindles and spin several threads simultaneously.
3. Women workers in the woollen industry attacked the Spinning Jenny because it reduced labour demand.
4. It was first introduced in the cotton industry.
A) 1 and 3 only
✓ AnsB) 2 and 3 only
C) 1, 2, and 4 only
D) 2, 3, and 4 only
Statement 1 is incorrect — it was devised by James Hargreaves (not Arkwright) in 1764. Arkwright created the cotton mill. Statement 4 is incorrect — the Spinning Jenny was introduced in the woollen industry first, where women workers attacked it. Statements 2 and 3 are correct as per NCERT.
Q3 Why did Victorian Britain’s industrialists prefer hand labour over steam-powered machines?
1. Abundant supply of cheap labour meant low wages, making machines less economical.
2. Many industries had seasonal demand, making it more practical to employ seasonal hand workers.
3. Upper classes preferred handmade products, and machine-made goods were primarily for export to colonies.
4. The British government banned the use of steam-powered machines in textile industries.
2. Many industries had seasonal demand, making it more practical to employ seasonal hand workers.
3. Upper classes preferred handmade products, and machine-made goods were primarily for export to colonies.
4. The British government banned the use of steam-powered machines in textile industries.
A) 1 and 2 only
B) 2 and 3 only
✓ AnsC) 1, 2, and 3 only
D) All of the above
Statement 4 is incorrect — there was no government ban on steam machines. Statements 1, 2, and 3 are all directly mentioned in NCERT as reasons why industrialists preferred hand labour: abundance/cheapness of labour, seasonal demand patterns, and upper-class preference for handmade goods (with machine-made goods being for colonial markets).
Q4 The decline of the port of Surat in the 18th century was primarily caused by:
A) A devastating earthquake that destroyed the harbour infrastructure
✓ AnsB) European companies gaining monopoly rights to trade, causing trade to shift to new colonial ports like Bombay and Calcutta
C) The depletion of India’s cotton and silk production due to drought
D) A ban imposed by Mughal rulers on overseas trade through Surat
NCERT explicitly states that European companies gained power by securing concessions from local courts and then monopoly rights to trade. This resulted in the decline of old ports of Surat and Hoogly. Trade through new ports (Bombay and Calcutta) came to be controlled by European companies. The gross value of trade through Surat fell from Rs 16 million (late 17th century) to Rs 3 million by the 1740s.
Q5 The East India Company’s ‘gomastha system’ was introduced to:
A) Provide free loans to weavers so they could expand their production capacity independently
B) Train weavers in the use of modern machinery imported from England
✓ AnsC) Eliminate existing traders and brokers, establish direct control over weavers, supervise production, and ensure regular supply of textiles
D) Help Indian weavers find new international markets after the decline of Surat
The gomastha was a paid servant appointed by the EIC to supervise weavers, collect supplies, and examine quality of cloth. Combined with the advance/loan system, it tied weavers exclusively to the Company — they could not sell to other buyers. Gomasthas were outsiders who acted arrogantly, marched in with sepoys and peons, and punished weavers by beating and flogging.
Q6 Which of the following correctly describes the impact of the American Civil War on Indian weavers?
A) Indian weavers benefited as American demand for Indian cloth increased dramatically
B) Indian weavers prospered as Britain stopped importing raw cotton from India
✓ AnsC) Indian weavers suffered as Britain turned to India for raw cotton, causing raw cotton prices to shoot up, starving weavers of affordable raw materials
D) Indian weavers benefited as Manchester imports into India declined during the war
When the American Civil War cut off US cotton supplies, Britain turned to India for raw cotton. As raw cotton exports from India increased, the price of raw cotton shot up. Indian weavers were starved of supplies and forced to buy raw cotton at exorbitant prices — making weaving unviable. This is a crucial example of how weavers faced multiple crises simultaneously.
Q7 With reference to the ‘fly shuttle’ technology, which of the following statements is correct?
A) It was a steam-powered machine that replaced handlooms entirely in the 20th century
B) It was used in cotton spinning mills to replace the Spinning Jenny
✓ AnsC) It was a mechanical device used in weaving that increased productivity, and by 1941 over 35% of handlooms in India were fitted with fly shuttles
D) Its adoption led to the complete destruction of the handloom weaving industry in India
The fly shuttle is a mechanical device used for weaving, moved by ropes and pulleys, that places horizontal threads (weft) into vertical threads (warp). It increased productivity per worker, speeded up production, and allowed weaving of wide pieces of cloth. By 1941, over 35% of handlooms in India were fitted with fly shuttles; in regions like Travancore, Madras, Mysore, Cochin, Bengal the proportion was 70–80%.
Q8 What was the primary initial source of capital for many early Indian industrialists?
A) Loans from the British colonial government under the East India Company
✓ AnsB) Profits accumulated through trade with China — primarily in opium exports and raw cotton shipments
C) Revenue collected from zamindari landholdings in Bengal and Bombay
D) Investments channelled through European Managing Agencies
NCERT clearly states that many Indian industrialists accumulated initial capital through trade with China. Dwarkanath Tagore made his fortune in the China trade. Parsis like Dinshaw Petit and Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata accumulated initial wealth from exports to China and raw cotton shipments to England. Seth Hukumchand (first Indian jute mill, 1917) also traded with China. So did the father and grandfather of G.D. Birla.
Q9 Consider the following about Indian industrial growth during and after World War I:
1. Manchester imports into India declined as British mills were busy with war production.
2. Indian factories supplied jute bags, army uniforms, tents, leather boots and saddles for war needs.
3. After the war, Manchester successfully recaptured its old position in the Indian market by 1925.
4. Cotton piece-goods production in India had already doubled between 1900 and 1912 even before the war.
2. Indian factories supplied jute bags, army uniforms, tents, leather boots and saddles for war needs.
3. After the war, Manchester successfully recaptured its old position in the Indian market by 1925.
4. Cotton piece-goods production in India had already doubled between 1900 and 1912 even before the war.
A) 1, 2, and 3 only
✓ AnsB) 1, 2, and 4 only
C) 2, 3, and 4 only
D) All of the above
Statement 3 is incorrect — NCERT explicitly states: “After the war, Manchester could never recapture its old position in the Indian market.” Britain’s economy crumbled as it was unable to modernise and compete with the US, Germany and Japan. Statements 1, 2, and 4 are all correct per NCERT.
Q10 Manchester industrialists put images of Indian gods and goddesses on cloth labels sold in India primarily to:
A) Show respect for Indian religious beliefs and cultures as a goodwill gesture
B) Comply with requirements of the East India Company’s trade regulations
✓ AnsC) Give divine approval to goods being sold and make foreign manufactures appear familiar and acceptable to Indian buyers
D) Indicate that the cloth had been blessed by Indian priests before export
NCERT states that images of gods on labels were used “as if the association with gods gave divine approval to the goods being sold.” The imprinted image of Krishna or Saraswati was also intended to “make the manufacture from a foreign land appear somewhat familiar to Indian people.” This was a calculated marketing strategy to overcome resistance to foreign goods — closely linked to the broader story of how British manufacturers used cultural sensitivity to penetrate Indian markets.
