ZitaKight7091 at 18:36, 24 February 2026

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{{short description|Aspect of the economic history of India}}
This is the '''Economic history of the [[Indian subcontinent]]'''. It includes the economic timeline of the region, from the ancient era to the present, and briefly summarizes the data presented in the [[Economic history of India]] and [[List of regions by past GDP (PPP)]] articles.

{{Main|Economic history of India}}

== Antiquity ==
*500 BC
** Silver punch-marked coins<ref>[http://www.nupam.com/thshiv.html Nupam Mahajan and R. Balasubramaniam, "Scanning electron microscopy study of an ancient silver punch-marked coin with central pentagonal mark", ''Numismatic Digest'' v. 22.]</ref> were minted as currency belonging to a period of intensive trade activity and urban development by the [[Mahajanapadas]].<ref>[http://www.rbi.org.in/currency/museum/c-ancient.html "Ancient Indian Coinage"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322193639/https://www.rbi.org.in/currency/museum/c-ancient.html |date=2017-03-22 }}, ''[[RBI Monetary Museum]]'' rbi.org</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">The World Economy: Historical Statistics, Angus Maddison</ref>
* 4th century AD
**Indian subcontinent under the [[Gupta Empire]] united much of the subcontinent, contained 33.21% of the world’s population, contributed to around 33 to 35% of world's GDP,<ref name="autogenerated1"/> and generated an estimated average of $450 (1990 dollars) PPP per annum.

== Middle Ages ==

*1000
**Indian subcontinent (led by the [[Chola Empire|Chola]], [[Western Chalukya Empire|Western Chalukya]] and [[Pala Empire|Pala]] empires) contained an estimated 28.05% of the world's population, and contributed to around 30 to 33% of world's GDP.<ref name="Maddison-20012">[[Angus Maddison]] (2001). [http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?K=5LMQCR2KHV6C&lang=EN&sort=sort_date%2Fd&sf1=kwords&st1=maddison&sf3=SubjectCode&st4=not+E4+or+E5+or+P5&sf4=SubVersionCode&ds=maddison%3B+All+Subjects%3B+&m=14&dc=27&plang=en ''The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective''], [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]], Paris</ref> Individually generated an estimated average of $450 (1990 dollars) PPP per annum, and collectively produced $33,750 million.<ref name="Maddison-20012"/>
*1500
**Indian subcontinent (under the [[Delhi Sultanate]], [[Vijayanagara Empire]], [[Deccan sultanates|Deccan sultanate]], [[Gajapati Empire]], [[Bengal Sultanate]] and [[List of Rajput dynasties and states|Rajput kingdoms]]) contained an estimated 25.09% of the world's population, and who individually generated an estimated average of $550 (1990 dollars) PPP per annum, and collectively produced $60,500 million, of the world's $248,321 million (24.36%), second only to [[Ming China]] in regional share.<ref name=Maddison-2003>[[Angus Maddison]] (2003). [http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?K=5LMQCR2K1TG3&lang=EN&sort=sort_date%2Fd&sf1=kwords&st1=maddison&sf3=SubjectCode&st4=not+E4+or+E5+or+P5&sf4=SubVersionCode&ds=maddison%3B+All+Subjects%3B+&m=8&dc=27&plang=en ''The World Economy: Historical Statistics''], [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]], Paris</ref>

== Mughal era ==
{{Main|Economy of the Mughal Empire}}
[[File:Share of Global GDP.gif|thumb|[[List of regions by past GDP (PPP)|Maddison's estimates of global GDP]],<ref>{{harvnb|Maddison|2007}}, Table A.7</ref> China and India being the most powerful until the 18th century. [[Bengal Subah]] was valued 50% of Mughal India's GDP.]]

*1500–1600
**Indian subcontinent, mostly under the [[Mughal Empire]] (after the conquest of the [[Delhi Sultanate]] and [[Bengal Sultanate]]) became economically 10 times more powerful than the contemporary [[Kingdom of France]],<ref name="harrison">{{cite book|title=Developing cultures: case studies|author=[[Lawrence Harrison (academic)|Lawrence E. Harrison]], [[Peter L. Berger]]|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2006|page=158|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RB0oAQAAIAAJ|isbn=9780415952798}}</ref> contained an estimated 24.27% of the world's population, and who individually generated an estimated average of $550 (1990 dollars) PPP per annum, and collectively produced $4,250 million, of the world's $31,344 million (4.41%).<ref>Bowen, H. V. Business of Empire: The East India Company and Imperial Britain, 1756–1833 (2006), 304pp</ref>
*1600–1700
**The Indian subcontinent, under [[List of emperors of the Mughal Empire|Mughal Emperor's]] [[Aurangzeb]] becomes the world's largest economy (after the economic downfall<ref name="Mao peiqi2">{{Cite book |author=Mao Peiqi |title=The Seventeen Emperors of the Ming Dynasty |year=2006 |publisher=光明日报出版社 |isbn=978-7-80206-237-5}}</ref> by the transition from Ming to Qing<ref name="Mao peiqi2"/>) and the most important center of manufacturing in [[international trade]], ahead of [[Qing China]].<ref name=Maddison-2003/><ref name="Parthasarathi">{{Citation |title=Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Divergence, 1600–1850 |given=Prasannan |surname=Parthasarathi |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-139-49889-0 |page=2}}</ref> Worth 25% of the world's [[Industrial sector|industrial]] output, it signalled the [[Proto-industrialization]].<ref name="borocz">{{cite book|author=József Böröcz|title=The European Union and Global Social Change|page=21|publisher=[[Routledge]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d0SPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|accessdate=26 June 2017|isbn=9781135255800|date=2009-09-10|author-link=József Böröcz}}</ref><ref name="williamson">{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcd.ie/Economics/staff/orourkek/Istanbul/JGWGEHNIndianDeind.pdf|title=India's Deindustrialization in the 18th and 19th Centuries|author=[[Jeffrey G. Williamson]], David Clingingsmith|publisher=[[Harvard University]]|date=August 2005|accessdate=2017-05-18}}</ref><ref>Kumar, Dharma and Meghnad Desai, eds. The Cambridge Economic History of India: Volume 2, c.1751-c.1970 (1983).</ref>
*1700–1800
**Large parts of the Indian subcontinent, including [[Bengal Subah]], which accounted for 36% of [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch imports]],<ref name="Prakash">[[Om Prakash (historian)|Om Prakash]], "[http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3447600139/WHIC?u=seat24826&xid=6b597320 Empire, Mughal]", ''History of World Trade Since 1450'', edited by [[John J. McCusker]], vol. 1, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, pp. 237–240, ''World History in Context''. Retrieved 3 August 2017</ref> and [[Kingdom of Mysore]], had some of the world's highest [[real wages]] and [[living standards]], made direct essential contributions to the first [[Industrial Revolution]] in [[Great Britain|Britain]].<ref name="Parthasarathi" /><ref>{{cite book|first=Kaveh |last=Yazdani|title=India, Modernity and the Great Divergence: Mysore and Gujarat (17th to 19th C.)|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=TdrzDQAAQBAJ|page=120}}|date=10 January 2017|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-33079-5}}</ref>

== Colonial period ==
{{Main|Economic history of India}}

=== East India Company ===
*1793
** [[Permanent Settlement|Cornwallis' Permanent Settlement Instituted in Bengal]].
*1820
**China was the world's largest economy followed by the UK and India. The [[Industrial Revolution]] in the UK catapulted the nation to the top league of Europe for the first time ever. During this period, British foreign and economic policies began treating India as an unequal partner for the first time.<ref>{{Cite conference
| first = Stephen
| last = Broadberry
|author2=Bishnupriya Gupta
| title = COTTON TEXTILES AND THE GREAT DIVERGENCE: LANCASHIRE, INDIA AND SHIFTING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE, 1600–1850
| book-title = Proc The Rise, Organization, and Institutional Framework of Factor Markets
| date = 23–25 June 2005
| location = Utrecht
| url = http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=cambridgeforecast.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iisg.nl%2Fhpw%2Fpapers%2Fbroadberry-gupta.pdf
}}
</ref>

*1850
**The gross domestic product of India in 1850 dropped to 5–10% and was estimated at about 40 per cent that of China. British cotton exports reach 30 per cent of the Indian market by 1850.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/papers/broadberry-gupta.pdf | title=Historical Prices and Wages Dataset | access-date=2024-08-12 | website=www.iisg.nl | date=20 April 2023 }}</ref>

=== British Raj ===
*1868
** First estimation of India's [[national income]] by [[Dadabhai Naoroji]].
*1870
** India's economy had a 9.2% share of world income under the [[British Empire]].<ref name="OECD Publishing">{{cite book|last1=Maddison|first1=Angus|title=The World Economy A Millennial Perspective|date=12 Jun 2001|publisher=OECD Publishing|isbn=9789264186545}}</ref>
*1900
** Under the British Empire, India's share of manufacturing declined to 2% of global industrial output.<ref name="williamson"/>
*1913
** India's economy had a 5.4% share of world income under the British Empire.<ref name="OECD Publishing"/>
*1930
**Indian subcontinent contained an estimated 336.4 of the world's 2,070 million people (16.25%), and who individually generated an estimated average of $726 (1990 dollars) per annum, and collectively produced $244,097 million, of the world's $3,800,000 million (6.42%).
*1943
** [[Bengal famine of 1943|Bengal Famine]].

== Post-Independence period ==
{{Main|Economy of India|Economy of Pakistan|Economy of Bangladesh}}

=== Just after Independence ===
*1952
** India's economy had a 3.8% share of world income.<ref name="OECD Publishing"/>
*1973
** India's economy was $494.8 billion, which accounted for a 3.1% share of world income.<ref name="OECD Publishing"/>

=== 1980–1991 ===
Economically closed.

=== 1991–present ===
*1991
** [[P. V. Narasimha Rao#Economic reforms|Economic liberalisation]] was initiated by Indian prime minister [[P. V. Narasimha Rao]] and his finance minister [[Manmohan Singh]] in response to a macroeconomic crisis.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12641776 |title=Timeline: India |work=BBC News |date=2011-02-22 |access-date=2011-03-06}}</ref>
* 1996
** Beginning of short-lived coalition govts. India's economy is $1.560 trillion ([[purchasing power parity]]) accounting for a 3.9% share of world GDP, the fifth largest in the world.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2017/01/weodata/index.aspx|title=World Economic Outlook Database April 2017|website=www.imf.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-01}}</ref>
*2004
** First NDA govt ends, inflation is 3.8%. India's economy is $2.870 trillion ([[purchasing power parity]]) accounting for a 4.7%<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ny.gdp.mktp.pp.cd|title=GDP, PPP (current international $) {{!}} Data|website=data.worldbank.org|language=en-us|access-date=2018-04-01}}</ref> share of world GDP, the fourth largest.<ref name=":0" />
* 2010
** India's economy is $4.002 trillion ([[purchasing power parity]]) which accounts for a 4.5%<ref name=":1" /> share of world income, the fourth largest in the world in terms of [[real versus nominal value|real]] GDP (PPP).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/2010/01/07/india-economy-inflation-entrepreneurs-wharton.html |title=The Indian Economy In The Next Decade |work=Forbes.com |accessdate=2011-03-06}}</ref>
*2012
** Second half of UPA-2 and Inflation 10%.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://www.imf.org/en/Countries/IND|title=India and the IMF|work=IMF|access-date=2018-04-01|language=en}}</ref> India's economy is $4.825 trillion ([[purchasing power parity]]), the third largest in the world in terms of [[real versus nominal value|real]] GDP (PPP).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2012/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=51&pr.y=6&sy=2009&ey=2012&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=534&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a= |title=Report for Selected Countries and Subjects |accessdate=2013-01-24}}</ref>
*2014
** India's economy is $7.376 trillion ([[purchasing power parity]]), the third largest in the world in terms of [[real versus nominal value|real]] GDP (PPP).{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}
* 2017
** NDA-2 and inflation is 3.8%.<ref name=":2" /> India's economy is $9.448 trillion ([[purchasing power parity]])<ref name=":0" /> and accounts for a 6.8% share of world GDP (PPP).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2017/02/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=43&pr.y=19&sy=2017&ey=2017&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=512,672,914,946,612,137,614,546,311,962,213,674,911,676,193,548,122,556,912,678,313,181,419,867,513,682,316,684,913,273,124,868,339,921,638,948,514,943,218,686,963,688,616,518,223,728,516,558,918,138,748,196,618,278,624,692,522,694,622,142,156,449,626,564,628,565,228,283,924,853,233,288,632,293,636,566,634,964,238,182,662,359,960,453,423,968,935,922,128,714,611,862,321,135,243,716,248,456,469,722,253,942,642,718,643,724,939,576,644,936,819,961,172,813,132,199,646,733,648,184,915,524,134,361,652,362,174,364,328,732,258,366,656,734,654,144,336,146,263,463,268,528,532,923,944,738,176,578,534,537,536,742,429,866,433,369,178,744,436,186,136,925,343,869,158,746,439,926,916,466,664,112,826,111,542,298,967,927,443,846,917,299,544,582,941,474,446,754,666,698,668&s=PPPGDP&grp=0&a=|title=Report for Selected Countries and Subjects|website=www.imf.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-01}}</ref>
* 2021
** As of 2021, India's economy is $10.207 trillion ([[purchasing power parity]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weodatabase/2021/April/weo-report|title=International Monetary Fund|date= 1 April 2021}}</ref> and accounts for a 7.19% share of world GDP (PPP).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/271328/indias-share-of-global-gross-domestic-product-gdp/|title=India: Share of global gross domestic product (GDP) adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) from 2016 to 2026|date= 1 April 2021}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Economy of South Asia]]
* [[List of regions by past GDP (PPP)]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Angus Maddison|Maddison, Angus]] (2004). ''[[The World Economy: Historical Statistics]]''. OECD. {{ISBN|92-64-10412-7}}. (See ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060516071726/http://www.theworldeconomy.org/publications/worldeconomy/MaddisontableB-18.pdf Sample Table]''.)
* {{cite book |last1=Maddison |first1=Angus |title=Contours of the world economy, 1–2030 AD : essays in macro-economic history |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0199227204}}
* [[World Bank]], 1 July 2006. [http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP_PPP.pdf PPP GDP 2005.]

==External links==
* [http://www.ijtemt.org/vol2issue3/FDI_&_Development_Of_Indias_Economy.php Relation Between Inflow Of FDI and The Development Of India's Economy], IJTEMT

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timeline Of The Economy Of India}}
[[Category:Economic history of India]]
[[Category:Economic history of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Indian history timelines|Economic]]
[[Category:Pakistani history timelines|Economic]]
[[Category:Business timelines|Economic]]

Economic history of the Indian subcontinent - Revision history

ZitaKight7091 at 18:36, 24 February 2026