The East India Company was incorporated by royal charter on December 31, 1600. A royal charter is issued by the Monarch of the time and creates an independent legal identity for something. It also details the entity’s goals and rights. The East India Company was created to help expand British trade in the spice trade in East India. The company later expanded to trade in silk, tea, and opium. The company continued to expand over time with the government sharing a portion of their profits. By 1793, it was a hugely important entity that had a monopoly on most of the imports and exports of India for Britain and also played a huge part in ruling over India for the British government.

The Charter Act of 1793 renewed the charter of the East India Company for another twenty years with a few but important tweeks to the rules. Most importantly it modified who could import and export from India. Previously, the East India Company had a complete monopoly on all trade with India (the occasional expectation was made for high ranking officials). The Charter Act of 1793 changed this in two ways. First, it stated that any subject of Britain could export to India. Second, it stated that any of the East India Company’s civil servants could import on the company’s ships. The Act also helped to further establish the East India Company's political rule over India by expanding the role of the Governor-General (the head of the British government in India). 

The East India Company already had a huge foothold in trade with India making up one third of Britain's trade with India. The Charter Act of 1793 had an immediate impact on trade with imports to India increasing dramatically. It continued to increase steadily until trade was disrupted by the Napoleonic Wars. This act also increased the political power of the British government through the East India Trading company in India.

Orientalism had a huge impact on British Romantic literature. Britain's foothold in India through the East India Company allowed for products and people to more easily move to and from India and influence perceptions of the East. The Charter Act of 1793 increased the presence of the British in India as well as commerce with India. This helped expand the influence of perceptions of India throughout the rest of the Romantic era. The Act also passed very easily highlighting how important the East India Company was to the British government.

Citations: 

Datta, K. K. “India’s Trade with Europe and America in the Eighteenth Century.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 2, no. 3, Brill, 1959, pp. 313–23, https://doi.org/10.2307/3596192.

“East India Company.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/East-India-Company.

“Royal Charters.” Privy Council, 15 Feb. 2022, https://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/royal-charters/.

Mallik, S. N. “Local Self-Government in India.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 145, [Sage Publications, Inc., American Academy of Political and Social Science], 1929, pp. 36–44, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1016884.