EconomyEast India Company rule
· Chennai
Merchant John Binny, in Madras since 1797, established the firm of Binny & Co, one of the city's oldest mercantile houses.
John Binny came to Madras in 1797 and established the firm of Binny & Co in 1814. Together with Parry's, founded by Thomas Parry in 1788, it became one of the oldest mercantile companies in the city. The firm later moved into textile manufacture and ran the Buckingham Mill in Madras.
Church Missionary Society begins work in Madras
After the Charter Act of 1813 allowed missionaries into India, the Church Missionary Society placed its first missionaries at Madras in 1814.
Madras Regulation VII of 1817 on temple endowments
The Madras government passed Regulation VII of 1817, the first explicit Company legislation on the management of temple endowments.
The Bank of Madras, one of the three Presidency banks, came into being through the merger of several banks in Madras.
Spencer's begins trading in Madras
Spencer's started as a small business in Madras in 1864 and grew into what was then the largest department store in Asia.
The failure of the Madras banking firm Arbuthnot & Co caused the worst financial crisis in the city's history and fuelled support for Indian-owned banks.
Bank of Madras merged into the Imperial Bank of India
The Bank of Madras, one of three Presidency banks, was amalgamated with the banks of Bengal and Bombay to form the Imperial Bank of India.
