My point is that unlike China, India was “deindustrialised” over the 19th century from a fairly advanced 18th century economy.
They had approx same amounts of 19th century tech, sure, but China still had a large base of skilled artisans that could bootstrap internal development of production, while India had a much more vestigial capacity.
China still had a large base of skilled artisans that could bootstrap internal development of production
did they though? China wasn’t industrialized yet but forcibly opened up as a market for western goods. their attempts at building a domestic industrial base were disrupted by the warlords & japan. i don’t think there was a nucleic handicraft economy waiting to develop into an industrial one, at least not outside of the most remote places which factory products had never reached.
