THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF INDIA BEFORE THE BRITISH RULE (BEFORE 1757 CE): AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Abstract: The Mughals were in charge of bringing the nation together, establishing a standardised currency, and constructing a vast road network. Shashi Tharoor makes the brutally straight forward argument that Europeans colonised India for their own gain, using its riches and resources to enrich the colonisers rather than to better the lot of the Indian people. Given that proponents of empire frequently employed terms like "benefit" and "welfare," Tharoor shifts her focus to the specifics of colonialism's economics. Objective: The research has attempted to investigate India's economic situation before the arrival of the British. Methodology: The study has utilized both qualitative and quantitative approaches on the basis of secondary sources. Result and Discussion: The Mughal economy was built on a complex network of coined currency, land revenue and trade. Royal mints produced gold, silver and copper coins provided that free coinage was established. The centralised administration, the political stability and the uniform revenue policy evolved by the Mughals, and the presence of a well-structured internal trade network allowed India to be economically united even before a single British ship arrived; economically united was India to a large extent, though it was a nation with a traditional agrarian economy, a subsistence agriculture economy. Findings: There were rich agricultural economy, developed trade and commerce, enhanced handicraft & textile Sector and well functioned markets & temples. Conclusion: India is said to have been the biggest economy in the ancient and mediaeval world between the first and seventeenth centuries CE, accounting for between one-third and one-fourth of global wealth.