He persuaded Child that Armenian merchants, who played a crucial role as factors in Persia, could build up the trade and customs of English factories in Bombay and Madras. In 1688 and again in 1690 he served as an agent for the Armenian nation and negotiated contracts with the East India Company which gave Armenians liberal trading privileges in return for their services. During the same period Chardin expanded his own commercial interests in the Mughal empire, sending his younger brother Daniel to Fort St George to establish a diamond export business in partnership with two Portuguese Jewish merchants. In the 1690s Chardin's close ties with Child and the East India Company soured when Child reneged on promises to promote Chardin as his successor, and Chardin's investments in East India stock plummeted" (ODNB). - Letters by Chardin are rare on the market. A number of letters are preserved in the archive of Daniel Chardin at Yale (Elihu Yale was governor of Fort St. George from 1687 to 1692). Twelve examples, including letters to both Thomas Pitt and Daniel Chardin, are transcribed and discussed in: Anne Kroell, Douze lettres de Jean Chardin. In: Journal Asiatique, CCLXX, 1982, pp. 295-338..