Description

The East India Company (EIC), also known as the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) or the British East India Company and informally as John Company, Company Bahadur, or simply The Company, was an English and later British joint-stock company. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with Mughal India and the East Indies (Maritime Southeast Asia), and later with Qing China. The company ended up seizing control over large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia, and colonised Hong Kong after a war with Qing China.

The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. By 1803, at the height of its rule in India, the British East India company had a private army of about 260,000—twice the size of the British Army. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its private armies, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions. Company rule in India effectively began in 1757 and lasted until 1858, when, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Government of India Act 1858 led to the British Crown's assuming direct control of the Indian subcontinent in the form of the new British Raj.

• 1835: Bombay mint - 29.5-30.5 mm, Madras mint - 30.7-31.3 mm
• KM# 447.1: plain rim with a plain edge, KM# 447.2: beaded rim with a reeded edge
• 1845: was minted at the Calcutta Mint for many years with a fixed date. Coins minted before 1849 have a 'serif' on the crossbar of the numeral '4' in the date.