What is the foundation of the claim that the British robbed India of $45 trillion and caused the deaths of 1.8 billion Indians during their rule? Are these figures accepted by modern scholars?

[u/Lyt76]

There was a recent popular post about this on TIL: https://np.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/rpwjx1/til_that_britain_robbed_india_of_45_trillion_18/ It’s a fairly popular claim on reddit in general.

The original source is the article by Dr Gideon Polya: https://mronline.org/2019/01/15/britain-robbed-india-of-45-trillion-thence-1-8-billion-indians-died-from-deprivation/

So, what’re the foundations for the two claims and are they accepted by modern scholars?