After Battle of Buxar and consequent treaties British treated India as a colony and it was exploited blatantly in phased manner and much of its wealth was drained out from the country. The exploitation by the British can be studied in different phases of their rule.
The Period of Merchant Capital :
The first phase covers the period from 1757 to 1857. During this period the East India Company indulged in direct plunder in the guise of trade.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
After the Battle of Plassey, the Company captured the political power which enabled it to exert pressure on vanquished to pay the British in the form of tribute, bribe, indemnity, damage etc.
It also tilted the balance of trade in its favour and secure monopoly on trade of goods. A profitable situation was created where goods were procured without any investment.
Image Source: upload.wikimedia.org
The capital required for the purchase was collected in the form of land revenue from India itself. In order to extract maximum revenue from land various land revenue systems were introduced.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
East India Company adopted the following methods of economic exploitation:
Direct Plunder:
In the name of trade the East India Company indulged in direct plunder. In the beginning when the Company started its trade with India, they were given authorization to export gold and silver bullion and coins of these metals worth £ 30,000 per annum to India. But after the Battle of Plassey, with the capturing of political power, the entire picture changed.
The balance of exchange tilted in their favour and they managed to secure maximum goods for minimum payments.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Moreover, British officers collected huge amount of wealth from Indian rulers, landlord businessmen and common men for one reason or the other, which they finally sent to England.
Changes in Land Revenue Administration:
There were significant changes in land revenue administration, some of them being:
Permanent Settlement in Eastern India (Bengal):
As regards the Land Revenue Administration, the period between 1765-1793 is characterized by many experiments.
The Company adopted the method of trial and error and in this process it attempted many experiments, most of which proved faulty.
It was left to Cornwallis to evolve a system which had the stamp of permanence. Cornwallis, helped by officials like John Shore and James Grant with their divergent views finally went for land revenue settlement popularly known as Permanent Settlement (1793).