<P> During its first century of operation , the focus of the company was trade , not the building of an empire in India . Company interests turned from trade to territory during the 18th century as the Mughal Empire declined in power and the East India Company struggled with its French counterpart , the French East India Company ( Compagnie française des Indes orientales ) during the Carnatic Wars of the 1740s and 1750s . The Battle of Plassey and Battle of Buxar , in which the British , led by Robert Clive , defeated the Indian powers , left the company in control of Bengal and a major military and political power in India . In the following decades it gradually increased the extent of the territories under its control , ruling the whole Indian subcontinent either directly or indirectly via local puppet rulers under the threat of force by its Presidency armies , much of which were composed of native Indian sepoys . </P>
<P> During its first century of operation , the focus of the company was trade , not the building of an empire in India . Company interests turned from trade to territory during the 18th century as the Mughal Empire declined in power and the East India Company struggled with its French counterpart , the French East India Company ( Compagnie française des Indes orientales ) during the Carnatic Wars of the 1740s and 1750s . The Battle of Plassey and Battle of Buxar , in which the British , led by Robert Clive , defeated the Indian powers , left the company in control of Bengal and a major military and political power in India . In the following decades it gradually increased the extent of the territories under its control , ruling the whole Indian subcontinent either directly or indirectly via local puppet rulers under the threat of force by its Presidency armies , much of which were composed of native Indian sepoys . </P>
who laid the foundation of british rule in india
who laid the foundation of british rule in india
East India Company
East India Company