What if an Industrial Revolution occurred in Bangladesh?

Matthew2000

So according to Wikipedia, Bangladesh from the 16th-18th centuries was one of the most industrially advanced regions and was on the verge of undergoing an Industrial Revolution - however, this was ended with the disorder caused by the Maratha and British East India Company invasions. What if an Industrial Revolution had, in fact, occured? How would it have turned out if it happened in place of the Industrial Revolution in Britain vs. if it took place alongside the Industrial Revolution in Britain?
 

Sardar

Well, in Bengal, there was a lot of potential for industrialization as it was the richest region in the world before the British invasions (it produced 12% of the entire world's GDP in the Mughal Era). Problem is, it also has a huge population like the rest of the Indo-Gangetic plain, so an independent industrial revolution is probably not going to happen due to the absence of demand. It probably would have happened if the Mughal Empire had not collapsed, or even if Bengal hadn't been conquered by the British in the 18th century. If this happened, then alongside Belgium, Bengal (or the Mughal Empire) might have been one of the first industrialized powers in the world.
 

Madhukar_Shah

One of the big problems you're going to have to confront is the low labour costs- there are simply far too many people to invest in machinery that lowers labour costs and little in the way of foreign competition that's driving native manufacturers out of business- a major part of what spurred textile technology in Europe was attempting to compete with bengal. I think it's perhaps more likely in a surviving Qutb Shahi kingdom, which had higher labour costs, advanced technology, had demonstrated ability to adopt European technology and importantly had both coal and iron, which Bengal lacks. It's also right next to Bengal so Telugu textile production at say Masulipatnam has a much higher risk of being driven out of business by Bengali textiles.
 
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Arkenfolm

Madhav Deval said:
One of the big problems you're going to have to confront is the low labour costs- there are simply far too many people to invest in machinery that lowers labour costs and little in the way of foreign competition that's driving native manufacturers out of business- a major part of what spurred textile technology in Europe was attempting to compete with bengal. I think it's perhaps more likely in a surviving Qutb Shahi kingdom, which had higher labour costs, advanced technology, had demonstrated ability to adopt European technology and importantly had both coal and iron, which Bengal lacks. It's also right next to Bengal so Telugu textile production at say Masulipatnam has a much higher risk of being driven out of business by Bengali textiles.
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The first coalfield exploited in India, Raniganj Coalfield, is in modern West Bengal which I assume was included within the borders of Mughal Bengal and the prior Bengal Sultanate. Not sure how much iron was within those borders. An irritating part about Bengal's iron and coal is they're right along the historic borders of the various Bengali states which would certainly be a huge driver in Bengal's foreign policy.
 
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