ABSTRACT
An attempt has been made in this paper1 to analyse the trading activities of Asian merchants, and the nature and character of their commercial organization vis-à-vis the European Companies trading in Bengal in the first half of the eighteenth century. The Asian merchants engaged in trade in Bengal had certain distinct features. They often acted as brokers, agents or merchants to the European Companies supplying their investments or buying their imports. At the same time they traded with their own capital, quite independently of the European Companies. They were primarily merchants – buyers and sellers of different commodities – and their operations extended to any class of merchandise which was expected to yield a profit. They also acted simultaneously as shroffs or money changers and bankers, received deposits and arranged remittances by means of bills of exchange or letters of credit on their various agents in different trade marts of Bengal as also in other parts of India.
