Previous Year Question

Option (d) is correct. By the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Bengal had become an extremely important trading region for the European companies. According to IGNOU's history of trade, Bengal was a major producer of cheap cotton piece-goods, high-quality raw silk and saltpetre, commodities for which there was substantial demand in Europe. Bengal trade consequently became highly important to both the English and Dutch companies in their Asian commerce.

Here, “cotton” should not be confused with “raw cotton.” Bengal's principal strength at this stage lay in cotton piece-goods/textiles. According to IGNOU, during 1758–61, about 81% of the value of the English East India Company's exports from India consisted of cotton cloth, while raw silk and saltpetre were also among the other important exports. Hence, the expression “raw cotton” in option (a) does not accurately represent the structure of this trade.

Opium was also becoming an important component of the Company's Bengal trading system. After Plassey (1757), English traders increasingly brought the opium and saltpetre trade of the Bengal-Bihar region under their control. IGNOU records that the Company subsequently exercised monopoly control over the saltpetre and opium businesses. Patna and Bihar were important producing centres connected with the Company's Bengal commercial network.