1. India’s sea route trade to Europe started only after the arrival of Vasco da Gama in Calicut, India on May 20, 1498. 

2. The Portuguese had traded in Goa as early as 1510. 

3. In 1601 the East India Company was chartered, and the English began their first inroads into the Indian ocean. 

4. In 1614 Sir Thomas Roe was successful in getting permission from Jahangir for setting up factories and slowly moved all parts of India. 

5. Hundred years after Battle of Plassey, the rule of the East India Company finally did come to an end. 

6. In 1858, British Parliament passed a law through which the power for governance of India was transferred from the East India Company [EIC] to the British Crown. 

7. Even the transfer of power from the East India Company to the British Crown did not materially alter the situation. 

8. Britain had exploited India over a period of two centuries of its colonial rule. 

9. On the basis of the form of colonial exploitation, economic historians have divided the whole period into three phases: 

10. The period of merchant Capital 

11. The period of Industrial Capital 

12. The period of Finance Capital