It is hard to imagine because the industrial revolution required a huge number of pre-requisites most of which don&#x27;t seem to be present in the India of the 18th century, but which were present in Britain.<p>In fact it is the very absence of these pre-requisites that meant Britain was in a position where it was even able to colonise India.<p>To blithely state that if Britain hadn&#x27;t colonised India that India would have inevitably maintained its share of world GDP and trade, in the face of the huge revolutions in industry, commerce and thought taking place in Europe, stretches all credibility.<p>In fact if Britain hadn&#x27;t colonised India, some other European nation would have instead. If India had industrialised first, then I&#x27;m quite sure the Mughal empire would have stretched to continental Europe in time.