Binny and Co. was founded in Madras by
John Binny as a general, clearing and forwarding agency in 1797. The company's first headquarters was a building then known as
Amir Bagh on
Mount Road. The company, then moved to a house a few blocks away, where
Hotel Taj Connemara is now situated. With the passage of time, Binny and Co entered the banking and insurance sectors. John Binny set up a partnership with Mr Denison and renamed the company as Binny and Denison in 1800. Binny and Co set-up the Buckingham Mills in 1876 followed by the Carnatic Mills in 1881. Both were merged to form the
Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in 1920. They made
khaki drill world-famous. The Bangalore Cotton, Silk and Woolen Mills was set-up in
Bangalore in 1884. In 1897, the company ventured into sugar industry which proved to disastrous. The Deccan Sugar and Abkhari Company was set up and soon began losing money. By 1902, Binny was in dire straits and
Parry had to buy the loss-making unit from Binny. In 1903, Binny ventured into coal mining industry and in 1905, it became the local agent for
Burmah-Shell, setting up a large storage facility at
Royapuram. Under
John Alexander Boyson, Binny pioneered electricity and trams in Madras. Binny and Co suffered heavily from the crash of the bank
Arbuthnot & Co on 22 October 1906. in 1987, Binny & Co. was acquired by the Udayar group led by
N. P. V. Ramasamy Udayar. The company was split into multiple units in 2010. == Notes ==