History · European Expansion in India

Consider the following statements regarding the organizational contrast and domestic political dynamics of the French and English East India Companies: Statement I: The French East India Company operated under a system of personal despotism where policies were dictated by the monarch's whims, depriving the state-sponsored enterprise of functional autonomy and preventing it from representing the broader interests of the French nation. Statement II: The English East India Company functioned as a Joint-Stock Company formed by the 'Merchant Adventurers', generating immense private prosperity that allowed its officers to return to Britain, establish sprawling estates, and obtain political power. Statement III: In order to maximize the English Company's commercial expansion, the British Parliament readily granted it permanent absolute autonomy, ensuring an absence of legislative interference in its operations throughout the eighteenth century. Statement IV: Despite the creation of a new parallel English Company under a state-backed indemnity in 1698, the powerful stockholders of the old company dominated the new body, culminating in their amalgamation in 1708. Which of the statements given above are correct?