Palmer and Company

Last updated

Palmer and Company
TypeAgency House
Founded18th century in British India
Founders John Horsley Palmer
Headquarters Hyderabad, ,
Area served
British India
ServicesTrading and Banking

The Palmer and Company, Limited, often simply called Palmer and Co. was an Agency House in British India founded by John Horsley Palmer. Palmer and Co. was the largest Agency House in British India. [1] [2]

Contents

History

Background

Before the advent of joint-stock banking companies in India, the role of banks was played by agency houses. The agency houses performed various quasi-banking functions which included but were not limited to: [3]

Business

The Palmer and Co. was founded with the name Paxton, Cockerell and Trail. Their name was later changed to Palmer and Co. [4]

In 1829, Palmer and Co. financed and exported more than 16% of all the Indigo produced in British India. [5] As a result, Palmer and Co. came to be known as the Indigo King of Bengal. [6]

Failure

The Palmer and Co. agency house failed in the year 1830 due to major economic downturn affecting the British India. The main cause of the economic crisis was the unexpected fall in the prices of commodities such as Indigo. [7]

Controversies

Charles Russell (1786–1856) was implicated in a corruption scandal where Lord Hastings, a Governor-General of India, was alleged to have acted partially on behalf of Palmer and Company, a Hyderabad banking house. The Russells were found to have to have been involved in and profited from the firm's dealings with the Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Akbar Ali Khan, directly from Hastings' 1816 decision to exempt the house from a ban on lending money to native princes. Henry Russell's successor, Sir Charles Metcalfe, discovered a loan in 1820 that was both fictitious and fraudulent. [8] [9] [10] [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central bank</span> Government body that manages currency and monetary policy

A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the monetary base. Most central banks also have supervisory and regulatory powers to ensure the stability of member institutions, to prevent bank runs, and to discourage reckless or fraudulent behavior by member banks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reserve Bank of India</span> Regulatory Body in India

The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for the control, issue and maintaining supply of the Indian rupee. It also manages the country's main payment systems and works to promote its economic development. Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran (BRBNM) is a specialised division of RBI through which it prints and mints Indian currency notes (INR) in two of its currency printing presses located in Nashik and Dewas. RBI established the National Payments Corporation of India as one of its specialised division to regulate the payment and settlement systems in India. Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation was established by RBI as one of its specialised division for the purpose of providing insurance of deposits and guaranteeing of credit facilities to all Indian banks.

A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in commodities, particularly cloth merchants. Historically, merchant banks' purpose was to facilitate and/or finance production and trade of commodities, hence the name "merchant". Few banks today restrict their activities to such a narrow scope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Financial services</span> Economic service provided by the finance industry

Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, consumer-finance companies, stock brokerages, investment funds, individual asset managers, and some government-sponsored enterprises.

Modern banking in India originated in the mid of 18th century. Among the first banks were the Bank of Hindustan, which was established in 1770 and liquidated in 1829–32; and the General Bank of India, established in 1786 but failed in 1791.

The history of banking began with the first prototype banks, that is, the merchants of the world, who gave grain loans to farmers and traders who carried goods between cities. This was around 2000 BCE in Assyria, India and Sumeria. Later, in ancient Greece and during the Roman Empire, lenders based in temples gave loans, while accepting deposits and performing the change of money. Archaeology from this period in ancient China and India also shows evidence of money lending.

The main elements of Japan's financial system are much the same as those of other major industrialized nations: a commercial banking system, which accepts deposits, extends loans to businesses, and deals in foreign exchange; specialized government-owned financial institutions, which fund various sectors of the domestic economy; securities companies, which provide brokerage services, underwrite corporate and government securities, and deal in securities markets; capital markets, which offer the means to finance public and private debt and to sell residual corporate ownership; and money markets, which offer banks a source of liquidity and provide the Bank of Japan with a tool to implement monetary policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Adam (administrator)</span>

John Adam was a British administrator in India, serving as the acting Governor-General of the British East India Company in 1823.

China's banking sector had ¥319.7 trillion RMB in assets at the end of 2020. The "big four/five" state-owned commercial banks are the Bank of China, the China Construction Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and the Agricultural Bank of China, all of which are among the largest banks in the world as of 2018. The Bank of Communications is sometimes included. Other notable big and also the largest banks in the world are China Merchants Bank and Ping An Bank.

The history of banking in China includes the business of dealing with money and credit transactions in China.

A non-banking financial institution (NBFI) or non-bank financial company (NBFC) is a financial institution that does not have a full banking license or is not supervised by a national or international banking regulatory agency. NBFC facilitate bank-related financial services, such as investment, risk pooling, contractual savings, and market brokering. Examples of these include insurance firms, pawn shops, cashier's check issuers, check cashing locations, payday lending, currency exchanges, and microloan organizations. Alan Greenspan has identified the role of NBFIs in strengthening an economy, as they provide "multiple alternatives to transform an economy's savings into capital investment which act as backup facilities should the primary form of intermediation fail."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ING Vysya Bank</span> Indian bank

ING Vysya Bank was a privately owned Indian multinational bank based in Bangalore, with retail, wholesale, and private banking platforms formed from the 2002 purchase of an equity stake in Vysya Bank by the Dutch ING Group. This merger marked the first between an Indian bank and a foreign bank. Prior to this transaction, Vysya Bank had a seven-year-old strategic alliance and shareholding arrangement with erstwhile Belgian bank Banque Bruxelles Lambert, which was also acquired by ING Group in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank</span> Financial institution that accepts deposits

A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.

The New York State Banking Department was created by the New York Legislature on April 15, 1851, with a chief officer to be known as the Superintendent. The New York State Banking Department was the oldest bank regulatory agency in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British credit crisis of 1772-1773</span>

The British credit crisis of 1772-1773 also known as the crisis of 1772, or the panic of 1772, was a peacetime financial crisis which originated in London and then spread to Scotland and the Dutch Republic. It has been described as the first modern banking crisis faced by the Bank of England. New colonies, as Adam Smith observed, had an insatiable demand for capital. Accompanying the more tangible evidence of wealth creation was a rapid expansion of credit and banking leading to a rash of speculation and dubious financial innovation. In today’s language, they bought shares on margin.

Philadelphia financier Jay Cooke established the first modern American investment bank during the Civil War era. However, private banks had been providing investment banking functions since the beginning of the 19th century and many of these evolved into investment banks in the post-bellum era. However, the evolution of firms into investment banks did not follow a single trajectory. For example, some currency brokers such as Prime, Ward & King and John E. Thayer and Brother moved from foreign exchange operations to become private banks, taking on some investment bank functions. Other investment banks evolved from mercantile firms such as Thomas Biddle and Co. and Alexander Brothers.

This article details the history of banking in the United States. Banking in the United States is regulated by both the federal and state governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited</span>

Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited is a non-deposit taking housing finance company, headquartered in Mumbai with branches in major cities across India. DHFL was established to enable access to economical housing finance to the lower and middle income groups in semi-urban and rural parts of India. DHFL is the second housing finance company to be established in the country. The company also leases commercial and residential premises. DHFL is among the 50 biggest financial companies in India.

Alexander and Company, Limited, often simply called Alexander and Co., was an Agency House in British India founded by traders and merchants from Scotland. Alexander and Co. has made several pioneering contributions to the economy of India. Alexander and Co. was the promoter and founder of India's very first bank, the Bank of Hindostan.

Agency Houses in British India, were trading companies that arose in 17th and 18th century India during the Company rule in India.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Nizam, his history and relations with the British government" (PDF) via rarebooksocietyofindia.org.
  2. Ghosh, Swagata (15 August 2016). "The returning Nabobs and a slice of India". The Asian Age.
  3. "History of Banking" (PDF). Ikouniv.ac.in. Retrieved 27 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. Roy, Tirthankar. "Trading Firms in Colonial India" (PDF).
  5. "India's Indigo Crash". 29 June 2020.
  6. "Agency House Crises in India: What Role Did Indigo Play?". 14 March 2017.
  7. Bhan, Aditya. "Indian banking's chequered history - Gateway House". Gatewayhouse.in. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  8. Leonard, Karen Isaksen (2011). "Family Firms in Hyderabad: Gujarati, Goswami, and Marwari Patterns of Adoption, Marriage, and Inheritance" (PDF). Comparative Studies in Society and History. 53 (4): 827–854. doi:10.1017/S0010417511000429. S2CID   85553204.
  9. "The Nizam-era banking scandal which shocked Hyderabad - Suno India". 15 February 2020.
  10. "The Gazetteers Department - Wardha". Cultural.maharashtra.gov.in. Retrieved 14 May 2022.