The Calcutta investigative committee established in 1838 was, in many ways, the culmination of questions raised in the Town Hall meeting. Established as part of an empire-wide decision to set up investigative committees in port cities, the Calcutta committee aimed to investigate whether the indenture trade was exploitative and whether labourers were deceived into migrating overseas. As this chapter goes on to show, the Calcutta committee and its report became an important point of reference in indenture regulations, emerging as one of the most detailed official accounts of the early indenture trade. While the Town Hall meeting showcased voices from elite Calcuttans, the investigative committee became one of the first spaces where the voice of the indentured migrant was heard. With committee members local to Calcutta, and with interviews of migrants and those involved directly in the indenture trade, this investigative committee made Calcutta a key decision-making part of the British Empire.

While reports from Bombay, Madras, Mauritius and Sydney – the other sites of investigative committees – were either considered inconclusive, inadequate or never reached the parliament, the Calcutta committee thrived and succeeded in influencing emigration regulations. John Geoghegan's report of 1873 stated of these committees: