[[1]] shipments to China grew rapidly from the 1820s to become for a while India's single largest export.

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Opium shipments to China overgrew from the 1820s to become India's single largest export for a while.
Under British colonial rule, India, once an exporter of the finest cloth and various other manufactured products, became an exporter of only raw materials. One major export item of India was the commercial crop of opium. Chinese tea was a popular trade item for the British, and to finance the tea trade, the British started selling opium to the Chinese. As they established control over Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha, the colonisers ensured opium production in these lands. By the 1820s, opium shipments to China increased so much that opium became India's single largest export for a while. An excellent triangular trade was established; the British grew opium in India and exported it to China; the money acquired after its selling was used to finance tea and other imports from China.

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