Evangelicalism emerged in Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as a reformist Christian movement that emphasised personal salvation, moral discipline, and the duty to spread Christianity worldwide. When evangelical ideas reached colonial India, they challenged the East India Company’s long-standing policy of religious neutrality, which had aimed to avoid interference in Indian beliefs in order to protect trade and political stability.

Evangelicals in Britain argued that British rule carried a moral responsibility to civilise and Christianise India. They believed Christianity was inseparable from progress, social reform, and material prosperity. This view found a powerful advocate in Charles Grant, a Company official, whose religious conversion led him to criticise the Indian society as corrupt and morally degraded. In his writings, Grant claimed that Hinduism was the root of social problems and proposed missionary activity, English education, and Christian values as solutions. He also linked faith to commerce, arguing that Christianised Indians would become more productive workers and consumers of British goods.

Evangelicalism aligned closely with liberal ideas of the ‘civilising mission’, which held that Western societies were more advanced and had a duty to uplift others. Education became a key tool, culminating in Macaulay’s Minute on Education (1835), which promoted English learning to reshape Indian minds and values. Policy changes followed, including the Charter Act of 1813 allowing missionaries, social reforms such as the abolition of sati, and increased cultural intervention by the colonial state.

Indian responses varied widely. While some embraced reform and English education, others resisted through cultural revival and religious reform movements. Ironically, evangelical intervention strengthened Indian self-awareness and contributed to political awakening and the growth of nationalism in modern India.