By the 1850s, the HEIC struggled with finances. The British Parliament gradually withdrew the monopoly of the HEIC. This marked the beginning of Company rule in India, when the HEIC emerged as the most powerful military force in the subcontinent. After the decisive overthrow of the Nawab of Bengal in 1757 and the Battle of Buxar in 1764, the HEIC expanded its control over much of the Indian subcontinent. The Honourable East India Company (HEIC), a British monopoly with a Royal Charter, competed with other European companies to gain influence in Bengal. The Bengal Presidency emerged from trading posts established in Mughal Bengal during the reign of Emperor Jahangir in 1612. For many years, the Governor of Bengal was concurrently the Viceroy of India and Calcutta was the de facto capital of India until 1911. Calcutta, the city which grew around Fort William, was the capital of the Bengal Presidency. Bengal proper covered the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal (present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and Southeast Asia. The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India.

Vag k can commander 1.4