Binny and Co was a

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

firm based in the city of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It was one of the oldest business firms in Chennai city. The company was responsible for the development of much of North Madras. It helped lay the foundations of major industry in Madras with the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills. Binny and Co was one of the founding members of the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

History

Binny and Co was founded in Madras by John Binny as a general, clearing and forwarding agency in 1797. The company's first headquarters was a building then known as ''Amir Bagh'' on Mount Road. The company, then moved to a house a few blocks away, where Hotel Taj Connemara is now situated. With the passage of time, Binny and Co entered the banking and insurance sectors. John Binny set up a partnership with Mr Denison and renamed the company as Binny and Denison in 1800. The firm moved to its present headquarters in Armenian Street in 1812. In 1814, it changed its name to Binny and Co. Binny and Co were the landing agents for the British India Steam Navigation Company and had a fleet of 35 barges and 30 lighters to transport men and goods from ships to land. They also ran a motor bus service for land transportation. Binny and Co set-up the Buckingham Mills in 1876 followed by the Carnatic Mills in 1881. Both were merged to form the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in 1920. They made

khaki drill Khaki drill (KD) is the British military term for a type of fabric and the military uniforms made from them. History Khaki colour uniforms were first introduced in 1848 in the British Indian Army Corps of Guides. As well as the Corps of Guid ...

world-famous. The Bangalore Cotton, Silk and Woolen Mills was set-up in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

in 1884. In 1897, the company ventured into sugar industry which proved to disastrous. The Deccan Sugar and Abkhari Company was set up and soon began losing money. By 1902, Binny was in dire straits and

Parry Parry may refer to: People * Parry (surname) * Parry (given name) Fictional characters * Parry, protagonist of the movie ''The Fisher King'', played by Robin Williams * Parry in the series '' Incarnations of Immortality'' by Piers Anthony * ...

had to buy the loss-making unit from Binny. In 1903, Binny ventured into coal mining industry and in 1905, it became the local agent for

Burmah-Shell The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company which was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed Burmah-Castrol. BP Amoco purchased the company in 2000. History The com ...

, setting up a large storage facility at

Royapuram Royapuram is a locality in the northern part of the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is best known for its beach, and for Royapuram Railway Station. The station is the first railway station of South India, opening in 1856, and is today ...

. Under John Alexander Boyson, Binny pioneered electricity and trams in Madras. JA Boyson

Binny and Co suffered heavily from the crash of the bank

Arbuthnot & Co Arbuthnot & Co was a mercantile bank, based in Madras, India. It had been founded as Francis Latour & Co in the late 18th century and then became Arbuthnot De Monte & Co. It failed spectacularly on 22 October 1906. In the last quarter of 1906, M ...

on 22 October 1906. On 31st October 1906, Binny and Co went into voluntary liquidation. On 16th November, it was taken over by James Mackay, George Mackenzie and Duncan Mackinnon and resurrected as a private limited firm under the Inchcape group.

India's independence The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic movement t ...

on 15 August 1947 further crippled the fortunes of the company. The Buckingham and Carnatic Mills, the company's only venture that was still successful, began to decline and faced losses by the 1970s due to lack of modernisation and damage caused by flooding. The mills closed down their operations in 1996 due to labour unrest and financial losses.and the mills were sold out in 2001. in 1987, Binny & Co was acquired by Udayar group lead by N. P. V. Ramasamy Udayar. The company was split into multiple units in 2010.

Notes

References

* {{cite book, title=Southern India: Its History, People, Commerce, and Industrial Resources, url=https://archive.org/details/southernindiaits00some, last=Playne, first=Somerset, author2=J. W. Bond, author3=Arnold Wpage
135
��139, year=1914, publisher=Asian Educational Services , isbn=978-81-206-1344-7

History

Notes

References

See also