During the
Mughal period (1526–1858) in the 16th century,
the gross domestic product of India was estimated at about 20.1% of the world economy.
An estimate of India's pre-colonial economy puts the annual revenue of Emperor
Akbar's treasury in 1600 at £17.5 million (in contrast to the entire treasury of
Great Britain two hundred years later in 1800, which totaled £16 million). The gross domestic product of Mughal India in 1600 was estimated at about 21.3% the world economy, the second largest in the world.
[17]
By the late 17th century, the Mughal Empire was as its peak and had expanded to include almost 90 per cent of South Asia, and enforced a uniform customs and tax-administration system. In 1700 the exchequer of the Emperor
Aurangzeb reported an annual revenue of more than £100 million.
In the 18th century, Mughals were replaced by the
Marathas as the dominant power in much of Indian, while the other small regional kingdoms who were mostly late Mughal tributaries such as the
Nawabs in the north and the
Nizams in the south, declared an autonomy. However, the efficient Mughal tax administration system was left largely intact.
By this time, India had fallen from the top rank to become the second-largest economy in the world.
[17] A devastating
famine broke out in the eastern coast in early 1770s killing 5 per cent of the national population.
[18]
Economic historians in the 21st century have found that in the 18th century real wages were falling in India, and were "far below European levels
source : Wiki