Warren Hastings, who rose from the ranks to become the first Governor General of India, offers valuable lessons in leadership.

A group of merchants from Lon- don joined hands on December 31, 1600, to form what later came to be known as the East India Company (EIC). EIC became the only company in history to rule an entire country. Merchants working for the company were given a monopoly to carry on trade activities with the East Indies. The company's ships arrived in India in 1608 on the Surat port. Rights to set up a factory at Surat were acquired from Jahangir, the then Mughal emperor. The British expanded their trading operations in India and over time a large number of trading ports were established along the east and west coasts of India. With the rising fortunes of the company not only in trade, but also politically, the company also started collecting revenues.

The year 1765 marked the real beginning of the British Empire in India, especially as a territorial dominion. Robert Clive, the Governor of Bengal till 1772, followed by Hastings, introduced reforms that led to new developments in the history of the EIC. The company used Indian rulers to extract several benefits to compete with European rivals for trade. Later on, it took upon itself the task of governance and began performing the dual role of both the ruler as well as the trader.

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