

East India Company brand returns after 135-year absence  - kvs
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10971109

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keeptrying
In every Indian history textbook, The East India company is listed as the
initial vehicle which brought about the British rule in India.

Since I was brought up in India, I had a VERY -ve reaction just reading the
story here on Hacker News. It was kind of built in.

I dont understand why this guy would pick this name for his company. Maybe he
never intends to sell in India.

~~~
unexpected
I agree with you, but come on, as an Indian wouldn't you LOVE to own the Dutch
East India company? I also think reverse colonialism played a huge part in
Tata's purchase of Land Rover and Jaguar.

"Turnabout is fair play" as they say - I'm sure there are a bunch of Indians
who would love to get a hold of "prized" British assets. It's an ego thing.

~~~
nebula
Yeah right. 'The holocaust also had a huge role to play in Jews getting their
homeland'. What British colonialism did to Indians was nothing less than the
holocaust on creating human misery and deaths. But of course, for people
sitting on the other side of the planet reading history through the eyes of
the plunderers, British colonialism was benevolent towards Indians in many
ways. I can't blame you for that. Winners get to write history and sadly
Indians are too busy subsisting, to get their history right at least within
their borders.

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Keyframe
So, the company that played a major role in modern India's history, American
Revolution and for the most part British modern history is now a brand with a
bit more than a coffee and tea shop? I wouldn't call that exactly a 'return'.
It's more of a homage+memorabilia setup than anything.

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kragen
I would be highly amused if some Americans visiting London stole the store's
entire stock and dumped it into the harbor, for old time's sake. I would be
less amused if activists decided to re-enact some of the other episodes from
the history of this company.

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aresant
Anybody have data on what he paid for the brand?

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pierre_M
_At its peak, the company employed a third of the British workforce and was
responsible for a huge tranche of global trade._

I knew it was big, but a third of the British workforce? That's insane.

Anyway, I welcome the East India Company back. I realise it has almost nothing
in common with the original entity, but I personally might buy their tea if it
becomes available here, just for the illicit non-PC pro-colonialism thrill.

~~~
groaner
It's big in the sense that it exercised power in a way that dwarfs what we
currently regard as modern corporate kleptocracy. The Company wasn't just a
trading company, it was responsible for exercising political power in India on
behalf of the British crown, and even operated its own military forces.

It's precisely this excess concentration of monopoly power that Adam Smith
described in _The Wealth of Nations_ as a criticism of capitalism gone awry
[1].

Probably as close to a real-life manifestation of Shinra as we've ever had in
history.

[1] <http://www.newstatesman.com/200412130016.htm>

