The EIC paid £40,000 (equivalent to £46.1 million in 2015) annually to the government to maintain its monopoly but had been unable to meet its commitments since 1768 because of the loss of tea sales to America.

Lord North overhauled the management of the India Company with the Regulating Act.

The EIC had taken over large areas of India for trading purposes and had an army to protect its interests.

The Act set up a system whereby the British government supervised the work of the EIC.

Company shareholders opposed the Act, and the EIC was still a powerful lobbying group in Parliament despite its financial problems.