Who is considered the founder of the French Company in India?

Key Fact(s)

Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the powerful Finance Minister of King Louis XIV, is regarded as the founder of the French Company in India due to his decisive role in its creation. In 1664, he organized the French East India Company as part of France’s broader mercantilist policy aimed at increasing national wealth through overseas trade.

Colbert believed that state-supported trading monopolies were essential to compete with the English and Dutch in Asia. The Company received royal patronage, monopoly trading rights, and financial backing. His initiative laid the institutional foundation of French commercial and political presence in India, later expanded under leaders like Dupleix.