The Regulating Act of 1773 primarily introduced changes in the Company's administration in which two distinct areas?

Correct — C. The Act worked on two fronts.

At home, it changed the Company's constitution: members of the Court of Directors were now limited to four-year terms.

In India, it reshaped territorial control. The Governor of Bengal became Governor-General of Bengal with a council of four, Madras and Bombay were placed under Bengal's control, and a Supreme Court was set up at Calcutta in 1774 → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Company's Judicial system and revenue collection. — The Supreme Court at Calcutta was one real change, but it sat inside the new government in India. The Act set up no revenue system; the Permanent Settlement came only in 1793.
• (b)
  Company's Military strategy and trade regulations. — Its trade clause banned private trade and presents for Company servants, a curb on corruption rather than a trade policy. The Act laid down no military strategy.
• (d)
  Company's relations with princely states and foreign policy. — The Act's say over war and peace came by placing Bombay and Madras under Bengal. That is a change in the Company's own command in India, the key's second area, not a separate policy.

Parliament passed the Regulating Act, 1773 when the East India Company, which by then held large territories in India, was in financial trouble. It was the British government's first step to regulate the Company's affairs in India.

It left the Company its territory but put rules on its governing body in Britain and its government in India. Pitt's India Act, 1784 went further and set up a Board of Control in England.

Key facts

• Warren Hastings became the first Governor-General of Bengal under the Regulating Act, 1773.
• The Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William, Calcutta, was set up in 1774 with Sir Elijah Impey as its first chief justice.
• The Act barred Company servants from private trade and from taking presents or bribes.
• The Act limited members of the Court of Directors to four-year terms.

Common traps

• Picking (a) because the Supreme Court is the Act's best-remembered clause, forgetting that it was one part of the government in India.
• Mixing up the 1773 Act with Pitt's India Act, which created the Board of Control.

No directly related past PYQ was found.