Khatbandi system

Up to the middle of the 18th century, the weavers appear to have enjoyed independence and freedom to sell their products to the English, the French or the Dutch or to the Indian merchants.

From 1750s, the gomastas (agents of British dependent on commission paid by the English as a percentage on the value of cloth collected by these agents) began to compel weavers to sell their products to the English.

The elimination of the French and the Dutch from competition by military means helped the process.

The weavers were bullied and harassed by the Factors, through the agency of Gomastas, to accept advance and to produce cloth.

In the 1780s this practice became systematised as the Khatbandi system: the artisans were indentured to sell exclusively to the Company under Regulations passed by the Bengal government.