The primary objective of the East India Company in India was :

The correct answer is To earn profits from overseas trade

Key Points

• To earn profits from overseas trade: The East India Company's primary and most significant objective in India was to earn profits from overseas trade.

  • Established in 1600 by a royal charter from Queen Elizabeth I, the company's main mission was to capitalize on the lucrative trade in spices, textiles, indigo, tea, and other commodities. 

    •  Economic historians, such as Ken Keith and Fernand Braudel, emphasize the mercantile nature of the East India Company's initial endeavors.
    • The company's focus was on maximizing profits through monopolistic control of key trade routes and commodities.

Additional Information 

• To develop transport system: While the East India Company did invest in developing transport infrastructure, such as roads, ports, and later railways.

  • Instead, these developments were primarily designed to serve their trade interests.

  • Efficient transportation was essential for moving goods from the interior regions to ports for export and ensuring control over the vast territories the company had started to administer.

• To develop industries: The East India Company did not primarily aim to develop industries in India.

  • On the contrary, the Company’s policies were often geared toward extracting raw materials from India to fuel British industries back home, while simultaneously flooding the Indian market with British manufactured goods.

  • This led to the de-industrialization of traditional Indian industries, such as textiles.

• To destroy Indian agriculture:  .the company's economic policies had a profound and often devastating impact on Indian agriculture.

  • Their focus on revenue maximization led to exploitative land revenue systems like the Permanent Settlement in Bengal, the Ryotwari System in Madras, and the Mahalwari System in Western India. These systems often resulted in widespread peasant indebtedness and famines.