While under the regime of feudalism and of the village community, noblesse oblige, clan solidarity, and regulation of the corn market checked famines, under the rule of the market the people could not be prevented from starving according to the rules of the game. The term “exploitation” describes but ill a situation which became really grave only after the East India Company’s ruthless monopoly was abolished and free trade was introduced into India. Under the monopolists the situation had been fairly kept in hand with the help of the archaic organization of the countryside, including free distribution of corn, while under free and equal exchange Indians perished by the millions. Economically, India may have been — and, in the long run, certainly was — benefited, but socially she was disorganized and thus thrown a prey to misery and degradation (Polanyi 160).
Polanyi, Karl. “Rise and Fall of Market Economy.” The Great Transformation. Farrar & Rinehart, 1944, pp. 151-162.