The first to start a joint stock company to trade with India were the

The Dutch were the first among the given options to form a joint-stock company to trade in the East Indies and India. In 1602 the States-General of the Netherlands amalgamated several trading ventures into the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC), a powerful joint-stock company with wide commercial and territorial powers [1]. Other European competitors followed later: the Danish chartered their first Danish East India Company in 1616, after the VOC was already established, and the French East India Company was created much later in 1664 under Colbert and Louis XIV’s patronage [2]. Thus, of the choices listed, the Dutch were the earliest to start a joint-stock company for Indian trade.

Sources

1. [1] Rajiv Ahir. A Brief History of Modern India (2019 ed.). SPECTRUM. > Chapter 3: Advent of the Europeans in India > The Dutch > p. 35
2. [2] History , class XI (Tamilnadu state board 2024 ed.) > Chapter 16: The Coming of the Europeans > The French > p. 251