Private Commercial Dealings of the Servants of the East India Company from 1757-1767
By Dhan Keswani
Summary
This article examines how servants of the English East India Company amassed fortunes through private trade between 1757 and 1767. After the conquest of Bengal, company officials exploited their power to monopolise salt, betel‑nut and other commodities, using dastaks (trade passes) to avoid customs. They compelled local merchants to sell goods at low prices and transported goods under company flags. The Court of Directors repeatedly admonished them but struggled to enforce its orders. The article details the scale of these illicit dealings and shows how they damaged Bengal’s economy and alienated Indian merchants. Reforms eventually introduced regulations to curb private trading and by 1775 such monopolies were abolished. The author argues that the greed of company servants undermined the East India Company’s legitimacy and contributed to calls for greater regulation and, ultimately, Crown control.
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Conclusion
By exposing how company servants abused their privileges for personal gain, the article illuminates one of the systemic abuses that precipitated later regulatory reforms. The abolition of private trade in the 1770s marked an important step toward ending mercantile exploitation and paved the way for more direct imperial governance.