Binny and Co is a

shipping Freight transport, also referred 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 ex ...

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not t ...

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 hedge ...

firm based in the city of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. It is one of the oldest business firms in Chennai city.

History

Binny and Co was founded in Madras by John Binny as a general, clearing and forwarding agency in 1797. Initially, the company functioned from a building then known as ''Amir Bagh'' on

Mount Road Anna Salai (), formerly known as St. Thomas Mount Road or simply Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George, leading in a south-westerly direction towards St. Thomas Mount, and end ...

, where the headquarters of the Indian Overseas Bank is now located. The company, then moved to a house a few blocks away, where Hotel Taj Connemara is now situated. The firm moved to its present headquarters in Armenian Street in 1812. With the passage of time, Binny and Co entered the banking and insurance sectors. John Binny set up a partnership with one Mr Denison and renamed the company as Binny and Denison in 1800. 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 was one of the founding members of the

Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a non-governmental, industry-led and industry-managed organisation whose main purpose is to influence government policy on economy, trade, commerce and industry. It also works for better education, healt ...

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

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

in 1884. The Buckingham and Carnatic Mills was the most long-lasting among the company's ventures.

Decline

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, Ma ...

on 22 October 1906. India's independence 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 by the 1970s. The mills closed down their operations in 1996 and the mills were sold out in 2001.

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

History

Decline

Notes

References

See also