Advent of European Chartered Companies in India and South-East Asia | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

The British Empire in India came into being through the acts of the East India Company. We cannot be sure what purposes the Business served at the time of the creation of the new state – whether mainly defensive or offensive, mainly political or economic. Answers to these questions depends on whether we see this institution as more like a firm or more like a political body, and this problem remains unresolved. Indian agricultural production increased. Foodcrops included wheat, rice, and barley, while non-food cash crops included cotton, indigo and opium. By the mid-17th century, Indian cultivators had begun to extensively grow two crops from the Americas, maize and tobacco. By the late 17th century, the Mughal Empire was at its height and had grown to cover almost 90 percent of the Indian subcontinent. It implemented a standardised customs and tax-administration system. Until the 18th century, Mughal India was the most important manufacturing centre for foreign trade. The debate so far has been about the federal state. But as stated earlier, the responsibility for vital welfare spending fell upon the provinces, and in turn, the local authorities. How well will they perform this duty? Crown rule instituted the structure of elected local bodies – District Boards, municipalities, and companies – to oversee schools, and allowed them to increase certain types of taxes. Reports in the early twentieth century focused on the financial vulnerability and limited administrative capability of the Boards.