Indigo Commissionwas formed following the movement of theraiyatsof Bengal against the Europeanindigo plantersin the late 1850s. From the beginning,indigocultivation in Bengal was associated with coercion and oppression. The planters, when they got the right to own land, used the right to force the raiyats to cultivate indigo, and threatened to enhance rent unless raiyats increased its production. Besides, the planters deprived the raiyats of the due price for the crop. The situation deteriorated all the more in the middle of the 19th century, when the price of indigo fell in the international market, following the fall in the price of gold. The indigo raiyats refused to cultivate indigo, but the planters forced them to continue with the production.

This led the raiyats to start organised and violent movement all over Bengal against the indigo planters in 1859. In the face of such a serious movement and public demand for probing the system of indigo cultivation, the government finally appointed the Indigo Commission on 31 March 1860 with WS Seton-Kar as the Chairman