Activities
Set up in 1907, the 100-year old Indian Merchants’ Chamber is a premier Chamber of trade, commerce and industry in India, an apex Chamber of trade, commerce & industry with headquarters in Mumbai. It has over 3000 direct members, comprising a cross section of the business community, including public and private limited companies and over 200 affiliated member associations through which the Chamber reaches out to over 2,50,000 business establishments in the country. IMC is also the first Chamber in the country to get ISO 9001:2000 accreditation in India.
In its second century it continues to serve with greater zeal the cause of trade, commerce and industry, especially in terms of global trade and investment and has in place 106 Memorandums of Understanding with leading chambers of commerce in over 50 countries. Its annual India Calling programme brings investment and trade opportunities in its target countries and in India to the attention of business and political leaders. Target countries hitherto have included Singapore, UAE, the U.K., South Africa and Canada.
Its current theme is : ‘Turning a new leaf – Education, Innovation and a Green Planet’ . Programmes of the Chamber this year will primarily focus on this theme. IMC would be taking up following major issues of importance in its programmes to deliberate upon solutions to those issues:
Agriculture |
Water |
Energy |
Environment |
Political Reforms | Health Care |
| Education | Innovation | Global Warming |
| Infrastructure | Governance and Administrative Reform | Urbanisation |
| Repositioning of Planning in a Market Economy | ||
This year’s programmes will also see cooperation with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, academic institutions, particularly IITs & IIMs, think tanks and the National Knowledge Commission.
The Chamber also proposes to bring scientific and thought leaders of global stature on its platform through its ‘Global Guru’ lecture series. The idea is to facilitate sharing their perception and experience not only with Indian business but with Indian society at large. It proposes to organize such lectures where Nobel Laureates, thinkers and intellectuals will speak on Innovation and on how India can accelerate its global innovation capabilities.
