The capitals of the Bombay, Bengal and Madras Presidencies in British India were called ‘‘Presidency Cities”. Their special features were : (i) They were multi-functional cities, they had major ports, warehouses, homes and offices,army camps as well as educational institutions, museums and libraries. (ii) A large number of people lived in these cities. Bombay had a population of nearly 1,500,000 people in 1941 as compared to 644,405 in 1872. The cities combined political and economic functions for the entire region.