The unification of Germany, Italy and the American Civil War, inspire the educated classes to think along the lines of democracy and nationalism.
As states continue to fragment further, some of them consider not having monarchies and dictatorships as their form of government. The popularity of regional languages and differences in religion and caste would spur wars and rebellions in various kingdoms which could probably lead to the reduction of their size. The pioneers of railways would probably be the stronger and more westernised kingdoms like Baroda, Mysore, Hyderabad and Punjab in collaboration with western powers like the Portuguese and Dutch. Perhaps the rail routes would exist from industrial areas that produce raw materials thereby increasing efficiency in transport towards cities and ports. The British introduced the railways in 1871, but given their absence, the emergence of railways would probably come about much later in the 20th century and would not have covered every part of the country. With India not being a part of their territory, perhaps they would have put their best interests in these lands and managed to suppress the American Revolution. The British colonies were strong in the Americas, Africa and Australia. This weakens French influence, leaving them vulnerable should there be any conflict with the Portuguese or Indian kingdoms. The French Revolution in 1789 affects the French territories as their coffers are empty in funding the war back home. However, they are not as enterprising as the British, and being a trade link between Europe and India is their only interest. The Portuguese would try to expand further into India. With no other worthy opponents, their rivals are the Spanish who occupy the Philippines and the Dutch who have established plantations in Indonesia.
In accordance with actual history, the Portuguese and the French occupy Goa and Pondicherry respectively. In the absence of the British and their powerful navy, other European colonial powers enter the waters of Asia. The rulers of Kashmir, Punjab and the Rajputs pose an imminent threat to the once powerful empire. However given the circumstances of this story, their power is rapidly declining with weak rulers and the borders of their territories recede towards Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. The Mughals survived as a puppet state under the East India Company. The big boys in this political set up would probably be the Sikh rulers in the north west, the Marathas in western and central India, and the Mysore Kingdom of Tipu Sultan. The British rule may have united India, but in their absence, the result is the presence of 60-100 princely states that co-exist as rivals or alliances. You are most welcome to have your own theories on it. These are just some amateur predictions of the future of the sub-continent, and were inspired by inputs from Quora. But what if the English explorers had never come to Indian shores or failed to conquer the peninsula? What would India have been like now? The British ruled the Indian subcontinent for 200 years starting with the East India Company in 1757 after Robert Clive's forces won the Battle of Plassey, and the British Empire which crushed the Revolt of 1857.
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