Real Reason Why British Won in India

​The Deep Dive: The Real Reason Britain Conquered India

It wasn't just armies—it was a corporate financial system vs. traditional states.

​The British East India Company (EIC) didn't win through sheer military might; it won through superior financial architecture. This episode reveals the hidden "superpower" behind the EIC's conquest from 1707–1857:
​Financial Resilience: The EIC was a joint stock company that could "afford to fail," spreading risk across thousands of shareholders. Indian rulers like Tipu Sultan risked everything personally.
​Cheap Capital: The EIC borrowed from London markets at incredibly low rates (3–5%), while Indian states paid crippling rates (up to 40%) to local bankers, making long wars financially impossible for them.
​The Atlantic Nexus: Capital generated by the Atlantic slave trade directly fueled the conquest of India.

​War Pays for War: After the Diwani of Bengal (1765), the EIC used Indian tax revenue to buy Indian goods and finance its wars across the subcontinent, turning Bengal into a garrison state that paid for its own occupation.
​The conquest was a systematic financial dismantling of Indian sovereignty, using Indian capital and soldiers to achieve a corporate takeover.

​What new corporate financial systems continue this legacy of extraction today?