India - Timeline

Pre-British colonial rule

From the mid-1800s, low value raw materials were exported and higher value processed goods were imported.

British colonial rule

Globalised India, primarily through trade established by the British East India Company, which sought valuable resources like spices and textiles.

Colonial effect on culture

Increased cultural exchanges and introduced Western education, technology, and governance. India was left with the English language and many British styles of law and institutions.

Independence

1947, around the start of the Cold War. As a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, it joined neither the USA or USSR and focussed instead on internal trade rather than external trade.

Initial isolationism

Discouraged external trade by setting up high tariff barriers that kept cheaper imports out of the country. This protectionist policy promoted a period of isolationism, discouraging globalisation.

Command economy

Between 1947 and 1991, India’s leadership, inspired by the Soviet model of planned development, chose a path of state-led industrialisation through Five-Year Plans.

Aim of command economy

To transform India from a colonial economy dependent on raw material exports into a self-reliant industrial nation.