Private corporations are powerful entities.
We already know that today. We know how they lobby to politicians and bribe and do anything to maximize profits.
But even though they have almost a free reign to do what they want, there are checks and balances in the form of corporate laws today that keeps them from exploiting freely.
But some centuries back, the common man was shit upon by the royalty and corporations alike, and there were no specific laws that held them back.
East India Company was one of these corporations.
1. If you thought Google or Microsoft or Amazon were powerful corporations, you are in for a shock
2. The East India Company had its own goddam army
In India itself, they had more than 250,000 recruits!
3. Working for the East India Company was the most wanted job in England
It was connection-based and you needed to pay a bomb to get in.
The lowest clerk had to sign a bond worth 500 pounds – that is almost 34 lakh rupees in today’s money.
While the president had to sign a bond worth 5000 pounds – a little over 3 crores in rupees in today’s money.
4. They could levy taxes on the local population – as they wished
No, we weren’t ruled by the British at the start, we were virtually ruled by a private company.
Imagine Google or Facebook ruling a whole country.
5. They traded in Opium and had a monopoly of its trade
The East India Company was just like a drug cartel like the ones in Mexico and Colombia. Opium was the drug of that time, and EIC waged two wars, just so that they could sell drugs to China.
Almost 1200 tons of Opium was smuggled every year into China – illegally by the British.
They didn’t even blink twice before waging two wars.
Imagine Microsoft doing that to China – just because it wants everyone to use Windows.
6. It had brutal resilience and determination – to wait for 132 years to get total control over India
Like with any successful and powerful corporation – they really wanted to expand – but EIC had other plans. They wanted to milk the cow that was India.
The perks for working in EIC were incredible too –
7. You could have naps in one of the nap rooms inside the lavish company building
Yes, they had nap rooms, and employees could use them as they wished.
8. The EIC employed 3 different cooks to suit the tastes of its employees
Indian employees could choose anyone from the trio of a British, Portuguese and an Indian cook. And the meals used to be incredibly lavish.
9. EIC served alcohol during lunches
And there was no limit to how much alcohol you could drink. Plus the alcohol was very cheap.
And there were complaints that employees drank a little too much too.
10. You could do your own private trade too – keeping the profits all to yourself
That means you could buy silk and spices of your own and bring them home to England and sell it off at your rates and EIC wouldn’t mind at all.
That’s why so many people came to work for them.
11. There was rampant insider trading too. One good trade and your future was set.
High-ranked officers knew which commodities were being shipped and at what rates they were going to be sold at. They took part in insider trading mercilessly – raking in money.
12. Dinner allowance for a single meal was 300 Pounds
That’s almost 19 lakh rupees in today’s money.
Obviously, this was toned down as the time passed, but they still spent lavishly on dinners.
13. Gifts of jewel and silk were routinely given
To even the lowest workers in the factories.
14. The work hours and leave policy sucked, but employees chilled out all the time
Working hours started at 8 am and ended at 9 pm. There were only 4 annual holidays.
But in the 12 hours they worked, they took liberal breaks. Some people even going on leaves without applying officially.
This is where the creeping infestation of incompetence of our government workers comes from.
The East India Company was a corporation unlike any other in history or in the present.
It could influence economies across continents, politics of the whole world, and conquer entire nations with its armies.
Imagine a Fortune 500 company doing all this today….
Article idea inspired from BBC