Agriculture of India got a commercial orientation during the British rule. Though markets and trade in agricultural goods existed in quite organized forms and on a large scale in the pre-British period but the market expansion in the British period marked a qualitative and quantitative break. According to Tirthankar Roy, there were three main qualitative changes. ‘First, before the British rule, product markets were constrained and subject to imperfections, given multiplicity of weights and measures, backward and risky transportation systems, and extensive use of barter. British rule and the railways weakened these constraints. By doing so, it enabled closer integration of global, regional and local markets. Second, from the time of industrial revolution, a new international specialization began to emerge as a result of trade. India specialized, in agricultural exports. Third, in turn, changes in the product market induced changes in land, labour, and credit markets’.