Answer: Economic nationalism was the study and criticism of British economic policy by early Indian nationalists, which showed that British rule was making India poor.
- Dadabhai Naoroji, in ‘Poverty and Un-British Rule in India’, put forward the Drain Theory: India’s wealth was being drained to England through salaries, pensions, interest and profits.
- Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade studied Indian economics and stressed industrialisation; Romesh Chandra Dutt wrote ‘The Economic History of India’.
- They showed that India was used as a source of cheap raw material and a market for British goods, which ruined Indian industries and handicrafts.
- This thinking made educated Indians aware of the real nature of British rule and gave rise to the idea of Swadeshi and support to Indian industries.
