Under the zamindari system, who benefited from the profit generated by the agricultural sector?

The zamindars

Under British colonial rule, India's economy remained predominantly agrarian, with approximately 85 percent of the population living in villages and relying on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, despite the significant proportion of the population engaged in agriculture, the sector experienced stagnation and occasional deterioration. While there was some growth in the overall area under cultivation, agricultural productivity remained low.

This stagnation in the agricultural sector was caused mainly because of the various systems of land settlement that were introduced by the colonial government. Particularly, under the zamindari system which was implemented in the then Bengal Presidency comprising parts of India’s present-day eastern states, the profit accruing out of the agriculture sector went to the zamindars instead of the cultivators.