About MCCI

The MCCI Journey & Growth Story

Starting its journey way back in 1901

The Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) has emerged as one of the most dynamic and front-ranking Chambers in the city of Kolkata. Being born in an environment of National Upsurge, it’s prime objective has been to provide a sense of integrity, secularity and idealism to the business community of Eastern India. The Chamber today is steadily making it’s presence felt across the country and abroad, through well-thought out, meaningful initiatives aimed at taking Indian Industry to a higher growth trajectory.

Historically, the Chamber carries with it a legacy of uniting the business community in Kolkata, forming an organisation and raising its voice of concern against all sorts of injustice in the pre–independence days. It played a significant nationalist role at different times of the last 117 years of it’s existence. The Chamber has always been in the forefront of challenges faced and policy-actions taken by the emerging India, championing the cause of indigenous industry as generators of maximum wealth and employment for the millions of people in India.

The MCCI started its function in the name of ‘Vaishya Mitra Sabha’, which was renamed as the ‘Merchants’ Committee’ in 1904 and membership was opened to all. It plunged itself into the Swadeshi Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1921. In 1952, the name was changed into ‘Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce’, which was ultimately changed to “Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry” in 2016, to re-affirm and reflect its focus on trade, commerce & industry.

MCCI Vision

To be a platform for empowering businesses of Eastern India by providing various services in the form of business development activities, policy intervention, liaising between Regulatory authorities and various other stakeholders, and other forms of hand-holding activities.

Evolution of the Chamber

Starting its journey way back in 1901, Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) has emerged as one of the most dynamic and front-ranking Chambers in eastern India. The Chamber has made its presence felt across the country and abroad, through well-thought out, meaningful initiatives aimed at taking Indian Industry to a higher growth trajectory.

Historically, the Chamber carries with it a legacy of uniting the business community in Kolkata, forming an organisation and raising its voice of concern against all sorts of injustice in the pre–independence days. It played a significant nationalist role at different times of the last 120 years of its existence. MCCI started its function in the name of ‘Vaishya Mitra Sabha’, which was renamed as the “Merchants’ Committee” in 1904 and membership was opened to all.

Over the years, the Chamber has spread out its wings to cover a wide spectrum of industries, trade & services. While being a strong voice of small and medium enterprises, the Chamber has pro-actively advocated that in a mixed economy like ours, the Public and Private Sectors are complementary to each other, and can together create an inclusive and futuristic India.

MCCI has members covering a wide cross-section of small, medium & large industries, trade, different professions and services, apart from indirect members through various industry and trade associations affiliated to the Chamber. Some of the important members include Emami Group, Century & Star Cement, Nipha, Shyam Steel, Srei, Rupa, Lux, Patton, Linc Pens, Reshmi Metalics, Lumino Industries, among others.

In the recent years, the Chamber has successfully led Business Delegations to the neighbouring countries including Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia and held focused B2B interactions & meetings between relevant stakeholders to foster & facilitate bilateral trade, JVs and FDI.

Major thrust areas of the Chamber

  • Interaction with the Central and State Governments, banks, RBI, SEBI, Export Promotion Councils, various apex bodies & institutions set up by the Union/ State Government, Foreign Diplomatic Missions and other concerned authorities for promotion of industry and trade.
  • Policy Advocacy and liaison with the Union and State Governments for creation and formulation of right economic policies aimed at boosting socio-economic development and industrial growth. Initiating necessary steps against critical bottlenecks/ deficiencies to ensure faster growth of industry and commerce and submission of Policy Blueprints & Representations for necessary action.
  • Focused initiatives on development and promotion of industry & trade, organising Meetings, Seminars, Symposia on several contemporary macro & sectoral issues, and provide a platform for discussion and deliberations amongst the stakeholders.
  • Dissemination of information & knowledge to members on a continuous basis on corporate laws & rules, economic & tax issues and national & international business opportunities.
  • Providing hand–holding services and an umbrella support in the form of MCCI MSME Help Desk, in association with the Government of West Bengal, to provide hands-on remedial measures at the micro level, in matters of GST & other taxes, incentives & subsidies, registration, various compliances and others.
  • Reaching Out to the districts of West Bengal, to the Tier II & Tier III cities, to foster better relations with the local business community in the districts them and create a conducive environment for rapid growth of industry and trade. Forging partnerships with the district Chambers of Commerce and trade associations.
  • Facilitating and organizing Trade Delegations with different countries by connecting Indian businesses with their global partners, creating partnerships & collaborations with counterpart Chambers, national & international Research & Development Agencies, Trade Associations through signing of MoUs to ensure national and global reach.
  • Aligning with the Print & Electronic Media and other relevant stakeholders to ensure a better visibility of the MCCI brand amongst Government & Industry circles.
  • Promoting the cause of Women Empowerment by taking up meaningful initiatives through the MCCI Ladies Wing [MLF] of the Chamber.
  • Mentoring and Handholding the next gen entrepreneurs through the MCCI Young Entrepreneurs’ Forum [MYEF] of the Chamber.