Roy dismisses the notion that British employers were any more exploitative than Indians. “The European planter,” he says, “did not do anything the Bengali zamindar would not do to a peasant whose rent was in default, which was to beat him up in a special room made for the purpose.” He is equally dismissive of the nationalist myth that Britain drained Indian wealth through foreign remittances. Instead, imperial openness made it possible for India to import what has always been its most scarce resource, capital. It was foreign investment that financed the railways, which in turn stimulated the grain trade, bringing down transport costs and increasing the flow of price information to farmers. That, in turn, boosted agricultural exports, which earned more foreign exchange to re-invest, a virtuous circle of profits fuelling growth.