As part of the Quantitative History Book Launch Series, this public lecture unveils a significant new economic history of India spanning from the reign of Akbar in the sixteenth century to its post-independence integration into the global economy. Through the application of economic concepts and theories, alongside extensive new data, Bishnupriya Gupta of the University of Warwick constructs a new framework for comprehending the economic impacts and legacies of British rule. She traces India’s transition from a pre-colonial economy to colonial rule and assesses its economic performance from a comparative perspective, particularly in the context of the Great Divergence between Europe and Asia. Finally, she examines India’s post-independence economy and the evolution of social and economic inequality through to the turn of the twenty-first century.