Question

During British rule, the Indian textile industry was almost wiped out because

Answer 1

Britain brought free trade to India. Indian cloth, woven in India, could not compete with imported (from Britain) machine cloth. Indian consumers readily chose the cheaper cloth: cheaper, better quality. I don't think it is fair to blame this loss of the hand-weaving industry in India on Britain, as every country in the world suffered through the transition of industrialization from manual tasks. In a free trade world, some countries make things better and cheaper.