Yes, even from the very beginning the EIC was sanctioned by the Crown (James I) to meet with Mughal leaders and negotiate trading contracts (17th century); the express goal was to begin gaining a foothold in India. The rest of EIC's history someone else can detail, but most every large operation is state-sanctioned, the difference between the state and the company is only practical (so that the government does not have to spend time and energy intervening on the lower levels of this 'corporation') but the larger ambitions are entangled and determined by the British Crown, and for the good of the British--at least after the initial monopolizing of the region. Much of the original 'conquering' of India was not by direct order of the Crown, but seems to have been part of the company's own series of pitting rival kingdoms against each other, and taking over regional puppet presidencies and local powers, until its monopoly-status would gain momentum and transform the subcontinent into a country under company rule. Eventually, after subsequent mass famines where 10s of millions would die and then Indian rebellions, the company lost face and became nationalized in the 1800s so that the British would more directly orchestrate the previously semi-privatized lower operations of the company.

Perhaps someone else could better explain. There are certainly many analogies with oil companies (Turkish Petroleum Company for example), though many of those became multinational early on, their corporate stake was often not actually private throughout its history but that of the national interest--its government, and the country with resources is viewed mostly just as a place to extract important resources, unfortunately.