Pitt's India Act in the context of 13 Geo. 3

The Bombay Presidency, officially called the Presidency of Bombay until 1937, later the Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainland territory was acquired in the Konkan region with the Treaty of Bassein. Poona was the summer capital.

The Bombay Province has its beginnings in the city of Bombay that was leased in fee tail to the East India Company, via the Royal Charter of 27 March 1668 by King Charles II of England, who had in turn acquired Bombay on 11 May 1661, through the dowry by way of his marriage treaty with princess Catherine De Braganza, daughter of John IV of Portugal. The English East India Company transferred its Western India headquarters from Surat in the Gulf of Cambay after it was sacked, to the relatively safe Bombay Harbour in 1687. The province was brought under direct rule along with other parts of British India through Pitt's India Act, after the nationalisation of the East India Company. Major territorial acquisitions were made by the company after Anglo-Maratha Wars when the whole of the Peshwa's dominions and much of the Gaekwad's sphere of influence were annexed to the Bombay Presidency in stages up until 1818. Aden including Socotra were placed under Bombay in 1839, Sind was annexed by the company in 1843 after defeating the Talpur dynasty in the Battle of Hyderabad.

The Madras Presidency, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, later the Madras Province, was a British Raj colonial administered political subdivision presidency and later its successor, Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of South India, including all of present-day Andhra Pradesh, almost all of Tamil Nadu and northern parts of Kerala, parts of Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana in the modern day. The city of Madras (present-day Chennai) was the official and winter capital of the presidency and Udagamandalam (present-day Ooty) was the summer capital.

In 1639, the East India Company purchased the village of Madraspatnam and one year later it established the Agency of Fort St. George, precursor of the Madras Presidency, although there had been Company factories at Machilipatnam and Armagon since the very early 1600s. The agency was upgraded to a Presidency in 1652 before once more reverting to its previous status in 1655. In 1684, it was re-elevated to a Presidency and Elihu Yale was appointed as president. In 1785, under the provisions of Pitt's India Act, Madras became one of three presidencies established by the Company. Thereafter, the head of the area was styled "Governor" rather than "President" and became subordinate to the viceroy in Calcutta, with Madras' titulature that would persist until 1950. Judicial, legislative and executive powers rested with the Governor who was assisted by a Council whose constitution was modified by reforms enacted in 1861, 1909, 1919 and 1935. Regular elections were conducted in Madras up to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1938. By 1908, the province comprised twenty-two districts, each under a District Collector, and it was further sub-divided into taluks and firqas with villages making up the smallest unit of administration.