Explanation: Charter Act of 1833 was the final step towards centralization in British India. The features of this Act were as follows:

• It made the Governor-General of Bengal as the Governor[1]General of India and vested in him all civil and military powers.
• Thus, the act created, for the first time, Government of India having authority over the entire territorial area possessed by the British in India.
• Lord William Bentick was the first Governor-General of India.
• It deprived the Governor of Bombay and Madras of their legislative powers. The Governor-General of India was given exclusive legislative powers for the entire British India.
• The laws made under the previous acts were called as Regulations, while laws made under this act were called as Acts.
• It ended the activities of the East India Company as a commercial body, which became a purely administrative body.
• It provided that the Company’s territories in India were held by it ‘in trust for His Majesty, His heirs and successors’.

Source: Laxmikanth Polity