> Britain had a massive trade deficit with India.

Google tells this isn’t true.

The UK actually had a massive trade surplus because it received cheap resources from India, then sold back high value items.

All of this was controlled by strict trade rules.

Britain imported resources India which was a source of resources, which it then used to sell high value items globally.

I think the UK ran a deficit with India, but a surplus with (richer) countries that bought those high value items.