The revolt of 1857 proved to …

India ceased, to belong to a company called the East India Company, and passed on to the direct ownership of the British crown, and became the ‘ Jewel in her majesty's crown’.
The exploitation, of India and her resources became more thorough and well organized.
On the Indian side, it became apparent that the British could be hurt and even defeated and the scale of British atrocities gave rise to the modern Indian freedom movement, lead by Gokhale, Lala Lajpat Rai and followed by Gandhi.
1857, saw the end of the struggling Mughal empire, with the last Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar, being exiled to Rangoon in Myanmar, left to die a miserable death.The Mughal empire had lasted 300 years and in the end had met a rather sad end.
The British Empire was firmly in place, but also showed how divided the Indian sub-continent was. British retribution and revenge was not only swift but savage. Delhi was surrounded and those suspected mutineers were arrested and summarily hung, with their bodies being left to be seen as a warning.