INDIA AND THE EMPIRE 159 



ECONOMIC RELATION OF INDIA TO THE 

 EMPIRE. 



The striking feature of the present economic 

 relations of India is the predominance of the 

 United Kingdom over any other external country 

 both in regard to import and export trade. Of 

 the import trade of India the United Kingdom 

 holds 49 out of 72 millions sterling. Of the export 

 trade the United Kingdom holds 32 out of 123 

 millions. Fully half of the import trade consists of 

 cotton piece goods from Lancashire. In regard to 

 the other half of the import trade, the figures show 

 that, so far, successful competition in India on the 

 part of foreign countries has not been carried far. 



Investments in India by external countries 

 show a still greater British preponderance. Ac- 

 cording to the calculations of Sir George Paish, 

 taking public issues only, the United Kingdom 

 had no less than 365,400,000 invested in India 

 and Ceylon, in 1910. To this must be added the 

 large but undiscoverable figure of British money 

 invested through private channels. No other 

 country has financial interests in India at all com- 

 parable with those of the United Kingdom. 



Indian native industries cover a wider field 

 than is generally supposed, but relative to the 

 resources and population of India they are small 

 in volume and have not in recent years shown 

 much increase. If we take into account the slow 

 rate at which economic changes take place, 

 the greatness of the interests affected, and the 

 political, financial, and constitutional relations 

 between India and the United Kingdom, it is 

 clear that the development of India in the future 

 must be dependent on, and primarily affected by, 

 the policy pursued by the British Empire as a 

 whole and particularly by the United Kingdom. 



