[pg 101] the country, which had bounced up during the American Civil War, showed greater buoyancy after 1870, and continued to grow throughout the period of the falling exchange at a rapid pace. During the short space of twenty years the total imports and exports of the country more than doubled in their magnitude, as is shown by Table XIV., p. 99. Not only had the trade of India been increasing, but the nature of her industries was also at the same time undergoing a profound change. Prior to 1870 India and England were, so to say, non-competing groups. Owing to the protectionist policy of the Navigation Laws, and owing also to the substitution of man by machinery in the field of production, India had become exclusively an agricultural and a raw-material-producing country, while England had transformed herself into a country which devoted all her energy and her resources to the manufacturing of raw materials imported from abroad into finished goods. How marked was the contrast in the industrial pursuits in the two countries is well revealed by the analysis of their respective exports on opposite page. After 1870 this distribution of their industrial pursuits was greatly altered, and India once again began to assume the rôle of a manufacturing country. Analysing the figures for Indian imports and exports for the twenty years succeeding 1870 (_see_ table below), we find that the progress in [pg 102] the direction of manufactures formed one of the most significant features of the period. TABLE XVI _Changes in Industrial Pursuits of India_¹⁸⁵ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Imports. Exports. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Years Manufactured. Raw. Manufactured. Raw. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1879 25,98,65,827 13,75,55,837 5,27,80,340 59,67,27,991 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1892 36,22,31,872 26,38,18,431 16,42,47,566 85,52,09,499 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Percentage of increase ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Total 39 91 211 43 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Annual 2·8 6·5 15 3 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ¹⁸⁵ From Ranade’s _Essays on Indian Economics_, p. 104.