<P> He became a Director and later, as Governor of the East India Company in 1672, he arranged a contract which included a loan of £ 20,000 and £ 30,000 worth of saltpetre--also known as potassium nitrate, a primary ingredient in gunpowder--for the King "at the price it shall sell by the candle"--that is by auction--where bidding could continue as long as an inch - long candle remained alight . </P> <P> Outstanding debts were also agreed and the company permitted to export 250 tons of saltpetre . Again in 1673, Banks successfully negotiated another contract for 700 tons of saltpetre at £ 37,000 between the king and the company . So urgent was the need to supply the armed forces in the United Kingdom, America and elsewhere that the authorities sometimes turned a blind eye on the untaxed sales . One governor of the company was even reported as saying in 1864 that he would rather have the saltpetre made than the tax on salt . </P> <P> The Seven Years' War (1756--63) resulted in the defeat of the French forces, limited French imperial ambitions, and stunted the influence of the Industrial Revolution in French territories . Robert Clive, the Governor General, led the company to a victory against Joseph François Dupleix, the commander of the French forces in India, and recaptured Fort St George from the French . The company took this respite to seize Manila in 1762 . </P> <P> By the Treaty of Paris, France regained the five establishments captured by the British during the war (Pondichéry, Mahe, Karikal, Yanam and Chandernagar) but was prevented from erecting fortifications and keeping troops in Bengal (art . XI). Elsewhere in India, the French were to remain a military threat, particularly during the War of American Independence, and up to the capture of Pondichéry in 1793 at the outset of the French Revolutionary Wars without any military presence . Although these small outposts remained French possessions for the next two hundred years, French ambitions on Indian territories were effectively laid to rest, thus eliminating a major source of economic competition for the company . </P>

When did east india company come in india