WI East India Independent

Fairly simple idea here:

What if the British East India Company, instead of giving its territories to the Crown in 1858, kept them, remaining master of India?

Could they last?

What would the effect be on every other country?

Would there ever be a need for "decolonization", seeing as it, technically, was not a country, and thus, not a European country?
 
The Company actually willingly submitted, or at least the Governor-General did.

According to History of the English-Speaking Peoples:

"...but on November 1, the Governor-General, "Clemency" Canning, derisively so called for his mercifulness, proclaimed with truth that Queen Victoria was now sovereign of all India."
 
I was under the impression that the BEIC collapsed due to the Indian Mutiny, which had a long buildup.

So for continued EIC presence, you must have them avoid alot of their policies that led to the cluster f__k that was the Indian mutiny.

This all means of course that you'd probably need a POD long before the Governor General's proclamation.
 
Remember that the EIC was based entirely on commerce and therefore driven by profit rather than politics. Why would the EIC want to cut itself off from Great Britain, her manufactures, and her markets? Not to mention the rest of the empire. An independent EIC makes no sense whatsoever.
 
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