["The Economic History Review, EarlyView. ", "\nAbstract\nThe fate of the handloom cotton textile industry is one of the most debated topics in the economic history of India. This paper presents novel employment estimates for cotton textile handweaving and spinning in the period 1800–1940. I put together plausible values for labour productivity and combine these with aggregate input usage to generate employment estimates. I then examine a number of related topics: the regional question, the relationship between handloom and power‐loom cloth from the consumer's perspective, the standard of living of handloom weavers, and the impact of technological progress within the handloom industry.\n"]