Introduction

Abstract

The managing-agency system dates back to the 1830s, when the East India Company lost its monopoly, and individual private trading was permitted. Former East India Company personnel formed partnerships and created agency houses, trading in indigo, sugar, cotton, silks, spices and opium. Many of these partnerships then fell on hard times, especially when the partners began to pull out their funds and return home. A number of markets were swamped by too much traffic, such as indigo, in which production rapidly exceeded demand. These early partnerships suffered a cash crunch when their founders denuded them of funds and disappeared from the scene.

‘The managing-agency houses today may be compared with the smile of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland: the cat has disappeared and only the smile remains.’ — Bhaskar Mitter, ex-Andrew Yule