Indian small-scale industries during the late 18th

Examine the pattern of changes that took place in the Indian small-scale industries during the late 18^th and the early 19^th centuries.

Modern industries started their journey in India during the second half of the 19^th century. In the late 18^th century India was a supplier of about a quarter of the worlds industrial output. India dominated in the market of textile imports across the world. But the relative importance of textile industry within India was not known. At the end of the 18^th century cloth export from India amounted to about 50 million yards. At that time, gross production of textile within India amounted to about 1800-2000 million yards. Our knowledge is far more about trade than other industries. The major exporting regions in India were Punjab, Gujarat, the Coromandel Coast and Bengal. These regions had or could get raw cotton, water and labor. Each of these regions had their own trading network, Central Asia for Punjab, red sea and Persian Gulf for Gujarat. Crooned had its trading network across south East Asia and Bengal used its waterways to trade with upper India. With the coming of the European traders nothing changed remarkably until the 18^th century.