This book is a study of the second half of the 18th century in the eastern coastal belt of South India during a period of the expansion of English power over a considerable part of this territory. During this period, the Anglo-French conflict had been fought out ending in the success of the English and was continued by a consolidation of English control against challenges by the newly risen kingdom of Mysore.

The work proceeds to analyse the extension of English control over important sectors of the commercial economy in a chronological progression, distinguishing different stages in this process. As the textile industry was the major concern of the English Company's commercial policy in this region, policy towards the industry becomes a central focus of the work. The evolution of this policy and the measures taken to implement it to attain the Company's aims have been discussed in detail.

The story of the Company's policy towards the textile industry ends with the establishment of total control over it.

The last section deals with trade in general from the region over this half century. This is followed by a discussion of how merchants operated in the midst of these changes and of the rise of new groups of entrepreneurs and intermediaries. There is an analysis of the new power relationships, the implications of the Company being a merchant and a political power and the opportunities as well as the constraints this created.