Vol. 1, Issue 8, Part C (2015)

Abstract
After many attempts to establish its toehold in the Indian subcontinent the French State was finally able to create a successful Company for commercial activities in 1664 known as Compagnie des Indes Orientales. With the formation of this Company, France succeeded in creating a durable vehicle for its presence in India. Dutch and English Companies were led by merchants but the French Company was overtly a state project. The initiative of this project goes to the credit of Colbert, Louis XIV’s minister of finance (in office 1665-1683). Initially, the Company established its first factory in Surat. However, due to the presence of English and Dutch Companies, the French Company faced extreme competition and continuous challenges in commercial sphere. Consequently, they established themselves in Pondicherry, a town on the Coromandel Coast. The major aim of the French Company was to transact commerce in the Indian commodities; in such transactions they faced variety of problems as they were new and late comer in the subcontinent. One of the spheres of such problems was the currency system. Therefore, this article discusses about the currency system in Pondicherry—exchange, procurement and minting of coins— under the flag of the French East India Company in Pondicherry. In doing so, it explores the role of indigenous merchants and sarrafs in this system.