The correct answer is C) Interest in territorial expansion.
Interest in territorial expansion encouraged competition among European powers for influence in Mughal India.
The Mughal Empire economy was primarily rural, farming
European powers of the time such as Portugal and Spain were the first to trade permanently with India and they had territorial expansion interest in doing so. The competition for expansion and the dominance of territories characterized the relationship between powerful nations in Europe.
In the case of the Mughal Empire, its geographic situation was a privilege for the rulers and the expansionist interest of European countries because places like Calico connected the East and the West by a trade pass through the Indian Ocean, the Silk Road and the Bay of Bengal.