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The economy in the Indian Subcontinent during the Mughal era performed just as it did in ancient times, though now it would face the stress of extensive regional tensions.[1] The Mughal economy was large and prosperous.[2][3] India was producing 24.5% of the world's manufacturing output up until 1750.[4][3] India's economy has been described as a form of proto-industrialization, like that of 18th-century Western Europe prior to the Industrial Revolution.[5]

Modern historians and researchers generally agree that the character of the Mughal Empire's economic policy resembles the laissez-faire system in dealing with tradings and bullions to achieve the economic ends.[6][7][8][9]

The Mughals were responsible for building an extensive road system and creating a uniform currency.[10] The empire had an extensive road network, which was vital to the economic infrastructure, built by a public works department set up by the Mughals which designed, constructed and maintained roads linking towns and cities across the empire, making trade easier to conduct.[2]

The main base of the empire's collective wealth was agricultural taxes, instituted by the third Mughal emperor, Akbar.[11][12] These taxes, which amounted to well over half the output of a peasant cultivator,[13] were paid in the well-regulated silver currency,[14] and caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets.[15] In circa 1595, Modern historians estimated the state's annual revenues of Mughal Empire were around 99,000,000 Rupee.[16]

Coinage

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Coin of Aurangzeb, minted in Kabul, dated 1691/2

The Mughals adopted and standardised the rupee (rupiya, or silver) and dam (copper) currencies introduced by Sur Emperor Sher Shah Suri during his brief rule.[17] The Mughals minted coins with high purity, never dropping below 96%, and without debasement until the 1720s.[18]

Despite India having its stocks of gold and silver, the Mughals produced minimal gold of their own but mostly minted coins from imported bullion, as a result of the empire's strong export-driven economy, with global demand for Indian agricultural and industrial products drawing a steady stream of precious metals into India.[19]

Labour

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The historian Shireen Moosvi estimates that in terms of contributions to the Mughal economy, in the late 16th century, the primary sector contributed 52%, the secondary sector 18% and the tertiary sector 29%; the secondary sector contributed a higher percentage than in early 20th-century British India, where the secondary sector only contributed 11% to the economy.[20] In terms of the urban-rural divide, 18% of Mughal India's labour force were urban and 82% were rural, contributing 52% and 48% to the economy, respectively.[21]

According to Moosvi, Mughal India had a per-capita income, in terms of wheat, 1.24% higher in the late 16th century than British India did in the early 20th century.[22] This income, however, would have to be revised downwards if manufactured goods, like clothing, would be considered. Compared to food per capita, expenditure on clothing was much smaller though, so relative income between 1595 and 1596 should be comparable to 1901–1910.[23] However, in a system where wealth was hoarded by elites, wages were depressed for manual labour.[24] While slavery also existed, it was limited largely to household servants.[24]

Agriculture

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Indian agricultural production increased under the Mughal Empire.[2] A variety of crops were grown, including food crops such as wheat, rice, and barley, and non-food cash crops such as cotton, indigo and opium. By the mid-17th century, Indian cultivators began to extensively grow two new crops from the Americas, maize and tobacco.[2]

The Mughal administration emphasised the agrarian reform that began under the non-Mughal emperor Sher Shah Suri, which Akbar adopted and furthered with more reforms. The civil administration was organised hierarchically based on merit, with promotions based on performance.[25] The Mughal government funded the building of irrigation systems across the empire, which produced much higher crop yields and increased the net revenue base, leading to increased agricultural production.[2]

A major Mughal reform introduced by Akbar was a new land revenue system called zabt. He replaced the tribute system, previously common in India and used by Tokugawa Japan at the time, with a monetary tax system based on a uniform currency.[18] The revenue system was biased in favour of higher value cash crops such as cotton, indigo, sugar cane, tree crops, and opium, providing state incentives to grow cash crops, in addition to rising market demand.[19] Under the zabt system, the Mughals also conducted extensive cadastral surveying to assess the area of land under plough cultivation, with the Mughal state encouraging greater land cultivation by offering tax-free periods to those who brought new land under cultivation.[18] The expansion of agriculture and cultivation continued under later Mughal emperors including Aurangzeb.[26]

Mughal agriculture was in some ways advanced compared to European agriculture at the time, exemplified by the common use of the seed drill among Indian peasants before its adoption in Europe.[27] Geared sugar rolling mills first appeared in Mughal India, using the principle of rollers as well as worm gearing, by the 17th century.[28]

Industrial manufacturing

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South Asia during the Mughal's rule was a very fertile ground for manufacturing technologies which coveted by the Europeans before the Industrial Revolution.[29] Up until 1750, India produced about 25% of the world's industrial output.[30]

Manufactured goods and cash crops from the Mughal Empire were sold throughout the world.[2] The growth of manufacturing industries in the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal era in the 17th–18th centuries has been referred to as a form of proto-industrialization, similar to 18th-century Western Europe before the Industrial Revolution.[5]

In early modern Europe, there was significant demand for products from Mughal India, particularly cotton textiles, as well as goods such as spices, peppers, indigo, silks, and saltpetre (for use in munitions).[2] European fashion, for example, became increasingly dependent on Mughal Indian textiles and silks.[31]

Textile industry

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See also: Muslin trade in Bengal and Mughal clothing
Muslim Lady Reclining or An Indian Girl with a Hookah, painted in Dacca, 18th century

The largest manufacturing industry in the Mughal Empire was textile manufacturing, particularly cotton textile manufacturing, which included the production of piece goods, calicos, and muslins. The cotton textile industry was responsible for a large part of the empire's international trade.[2] India had a 25% share of the global textile trade in the early 18th century,[32] and it represented the most important manufactured goods in world trade in the 18th century.[33] The most important centre of cotton production was the Bengal province, particularly around its capital city of Dhaka.[34]

The production of cotton was advanced by the diffusion of the spinning wheel across India shortly before the Mughal era, lowering the costs of yarn and helping to increase demand for cotton. The diffusion of the spinning wheel and the incorporation of the worm gear and crank handle into the roller cotton gin led to greatly expanded Indian cotton textile production during the Mughal era.[35]

Bengal Subah

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Main article: Bengal Subah
See also: Muslin trade in Bengal
Ruins of the Great Caravanserai in Dhaka.

The Bengal Subah province was especially prosperous from the time of its takeover by the Mughals in 1590 until the British East India Company seized control in 1757.[36] Historian C. A. Bayly wrote that it was probably the Mughal Empire's wealthiest province.[37] Domestically, much of India depended on Bengali products such as rice, silks and cotton textiles. Overseas, Europeans depended on Bengali products such as cotton textiles, silks, and opium.[31] The province was a leading producer of grains, salt, fruits, liquors and wines, precious metals and ornaments.[38]

After 150 years of rule by Mughal viceroys, Bengal gained semi-independence as a dominion under the Nawab of Bengal in 1717. The Nawabs permitted European companies to set up trading posts across the region, who regarded Bengal as the richest place for trade.[38]

Shipbuilding industry

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Mughal India had a large shipbuilding industry, which was also largely centred in the Bengal province. Economic historian Indrajit Ray estimates the shipbuilding output of Bengal during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries at 223,250 tons annually, compared with 23,061 tons produced in nineteen colonies in North America from 1769 to 1771.[39] He also assesses ship repairing as very advanced in Bengal.[39]

  1. ^ Schmidt, Karl J. (2015). An Atlas and Survey of South Asian History. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-47681-8.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Schmidt, Karl J. (2015). An Atlas and Survey of South Asian History. Routledge. pp. 100–. ISBN 978-1-317-47681-8. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  3. ^ a b Maddison, Angus (2003). Development Centre Studies The World Economy Historical Statistics: Historical Statistics. OECD Publishing. pp. 256–. ISBN 978-92-64-10414-3. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  4. ^ Jeffrey G. Williamson & David Clingingsmith, India's Deindustrialization in the 18th and 19th Centuries Archived 29 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Global Economic History Network, London School of Economics
  5. ^ a b Roy, Tirthankar (2010). "The Long Globalization and Textile Producers in India". In Lex Heerma van Voss; Els Hiemstra-Kuperus; Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk (eds.). The Ashgate Companion to the History of Textile Workers, 1650–2000. Ashgate Publishing. p. 255. ISBN 978-0-7546-6428-4. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  6. ^ J.J.L. Gommans 2002, p. 75.
  7. ^ Streusand 2018, p. "...Mughal rulers pursued a more laissez-faire economic approach, benefiting from the prosperity of...".
  8. ^ A. Bayly, C.; Fibiger Bang, Peter; Scheidel, Walter, eds. (2020). The Oxford World History of Empire Volume Two: The History of Empires. Oxford University Press. p. 775. ISBN 9780197532775. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  9. ^ Ali 2008.
  10. ^ Richards 1995, pp. 185–204.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stein2010-3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference AsherTalbot2006-1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stein2010-4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Asher & Talbot 2006, pp. 152–.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference AsherTalbot2006-3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Jorge Flores 2015, p. 73.
  17. ^ "Picture of original Mughal rupiya introduced by Sher Shah Suri". Archived from the original on 5 October 2002. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  18. ^ a b c Richards, John F. (2003). The Unending Frontier: An Environmental History of the Early Modern World. University of California Press. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-0-520-93935-6. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  19. ^ a b Richards 1995.
  20. ^ Moosvi 2015, p. 433.
  21. ^ Maddison, Angus (1971). Class Structure and Economic Growth: India and Pakistan Since the Moghuls. Taylor & Francis. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-415-38259-5. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  22. ^ Moosvi 2015, p. 432.
  23. ^ Moosvi 2015, p. 450.
  24. ^ a b Moosvi, Shireen (December 2011). "The World of Labour in Mughal India (c. 1500–1750)". International Review of Social History. 56 (S19): 245–261. doi:10.1017/S0020859011000526.
  25. ^ Pagaza, Ignacio; Argyriades, Demetrios (2009). Winning the Needed Change: Saving Our Planet Earth. IOS Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-58603-958-5.
  26. ^ Ludden, David (1999). An Agrarian History of South Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-521-36424-9. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  27. ^ Habib, Kumar & Raychaudhuri 1987, p. 214.
  28. ^ Irfan Habib (2011), Economic History of Medieval India, 1200–1500, p. 53 Archived 22 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Pearson Education
  29. ^ Andrew de la Garza 2016, pp. 114–115.
  30. ^ Cite error: The named reference williamson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  31. ^ a b Om Prakash, "Empire, Mughal Archived 18 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine", History of World Trade Since 1450, edited by John J. McCusker, vol. 1, Macmillan Reference US, 2006, pp. 237–240, World History in Context. Retrieved 3 August 2017
  32. ^ Angus Maddison (1995), Monitoring the World Economy, 1820–1992, OECD, p. 30
  33. ^ Parthasarathi, Prasannan (2011), Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Divergence, 1600–1850, Cambridge University Press, p. 2, ISBN 978-1-139-49889-0
  34. ^ Richard Maxwell Eaton (1996), The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760, p. 202 Archived 4 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine, University of California Press
  35. ^ Irfan Habib (2011), Economic History of Medieval India, 1200–1500, p. 54 Archived 22 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Pearson Education
  36. ^ Roy, Tirthankar (November 2011). "Where is Bengal? Situating an Indian Region in the Early Modern World Economy". Past & Present (213): 115–146. doi:10.1093/pastj/gtr009.
  37. ^ Bayly, C. A. (1988). Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire. The New Cambridge History of India. Vol. II.1. Cambridge University Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-521-38650-0. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  38. ^ a b Nanda, J. N. (2005). Bengal: The Unique State. Concept Publishing Company. p. 10. ISBN 978-81-8069-149-2. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  39. ^ a b Ray, Indrajit (2011). Bengal Industries and the British Industrial Revolution (1757–1857). Routledge. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-136-82552-1.
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