Trade Concessions
It was during Farrukhsiyar's reign, in 1717, that the British East India Company purchased duty-free trading rights in all of Bengal for a mere three thousand rupees a year. It is said that the Company's surgeon, William Hamilton, cured Farrukhsiyar and the Emperor was moved to grant trading rights to the Company. Another story tells of a bribe to a eunuch of the seraglio and a rumoured British Naval attack on the Moghul navy at Surat. This order, which the Company hailed as the golden firman, was not of much practical use. Even though the Company claimed duty exemptions based on this firman, the Mughal governors of Bengal, from Murshid Quli Khan onwards, ignored this order of their suzerain and continued to collect customs duty from the East India Company.
Read more about this topic: Farrukhsiyar, Reign
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