Before the British came to India, it was the golden era for Indian cottage industries. Cottage industries like the muslin (velvet) of Dhaka, dyeing, printing, combing, jart work (in Surat) and Patola (of Patan). etc. flourished well in India. Indian weavers used to weave cotton cloth themselves. They would also dye it themselves. They used the flowers of the parrot tree (kesuda) to dye cloth. Sarees like Bandhani (tie and dye) and patola, etc. became very popular during this time. Apart from these, traditional industries such cotton textile, sculpting and metallurgy and spices, etc. also flourished in India. The industrial revolution which happened in England changed everything. England started manufacturing textiles cheaply and in large quantities with machines. Indian textile industry could not survive its competition since handlo cloth was expensive as compared to British cloth Due to the industrial revolution, consumpt of machine-made British goods increased India. As a result, the domestic industries India collapsed.
Many other cottage industries had developed in villages. For example, pure in was obtained from iron ore by melting it in furnace. Thus, the rural economy of India strong due to many such cottage industries However, it collapsed due to the industrial revolution in England.