Read the passage and answer the question:

For over a century and a half, the Fifth Report has shaped our conception of what happened in rural Bengal in the late eighteenth century. The evidence contained in the Fifth Report is invaluable. But official reports like this have to be read carefully. We need to know who wrote the reports and why they were written. In fact, recent researches show that the arguments and evidence offered by the Fifth Report cannot be accepted uncritically.

Which of the following statements is correct?

Statement A- Groups in Britain were in favor of the monopoly that the East India Company had over trade with India and China.
Statement B- An increasing number of private traders wanted a share in the Indian trade, and the industrialists of Britain were keen to open up the Indian market for British manufacturers.

Only statement B is correct.

The correct answer is Option 2 - Only statement B is correct.

Statement B- An increasing number of private traders wanted a share in the Indian trade, and the industrialists of Britain were keen to open up the Indian market for British manufacturers.

Correction is Statement A- Groups in Britain were NOT IN FAVOR (i.e. they opposed)  the monopoly that the East India Company had over trade with India and China.

From the time the Company established its rule in Bengal in the mid-1760s, its activities were closely watched and debated in England. There were many groups in Britain who were OPPOSED to the monopoly that the East India Company had over trade with India and China. These groups wanted a revocation of the Royal Charter that gave the Company this monopoly. An increasing number of private traders wanted a share in the Indian trade, and the industrialists of Britain were keen to open up the Indian market for British manufacturers. Many political groups argued that the conquest of Bengal was benefiting only the East India Company but not the British nation as a whole. Information about Company misrule and maladministration was hotly debated in Britain and incidents of the greed and corruption of Company officials were widely publicised in the press.