Correct option is A
The French East India Company was indeed founded in 1664 by Jean-Baptiste Colbert under the reign of King Louis XIV of France. The main objective was to compete with other European powers like the British and the Dutch, who had already established their trading companies in India and other parts of Asia. This marked France’s formal entry into the colonial trade wars of the 17th and 18th centuries.
The first French factory in India, however, was not established in Pondicherry. In fact, the French established their first trading post in Surat in 1668. It was much later, in 1674, that Pondicherry became a French settlement when it was acquired by François Martin. Pondicherry grew in prominence as the administrative and commercial center for the French in India but was not their first factory.
