In AD 1600, the East India Company was founded and set up trading settlements on the coast of India, known as 'factories', At first they used silver coins from the New World, but were not accepted elsewhere in India, so an agreement was reached for the Company to send its bullion to the Mughal mint in Surat. By 1672 the Company had established a mint in Bombay to produce copper and tin coins to serve its local needs and in 1717 they started minting silver rupees of Indian style in the name of the emperor. These became the principal currency for West Indian trade. A mint was also established in Madras, where they produced copper coins, silver rupees and their most distinctive coinage, gold 'pagodas'.