Preface, 1. The Structure of the Traditional Economy, 2. The Development of Maritime Trade and the Beginnings of Colonial Rule, 3. The Agrarian State and the Company: Parasitism and Paralysis, 4. The Evolution of an Indian Market in the Nineteenth Century, 5. The Limits of Industrialisation under Colonial Rule, 6. The Impact of the First World War, 7. Economic Conflicts in the Post-War Period, 8. The Consequences of the Great Depression, 9. India's War Profit: The Debtor turns into a Creditor, 10. India's Dilemma: Dynamic Industrialisation and Static Agriculture, 11. The 'Green Revolution' and the Industrial Recession, 12. Resurgence, Crisis and Recovery, 13. Population Growth and National Income, 14. Metropolisation and Regional Disparities, 15. Tasks of the Future, Annotated Bibliography, Index

Dietmar Rothermund is Professor of History at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University and is the author of India in the Great Depression, 1929-1939and (with Hermann Kulke) A History of India.

Much has been written on the Indian economy but this is the first major attempt to present India's economic history as a continuous process, and to place the development of agriculture, industry and currency in a political and historical context.