Established in 1907, the Indian Merchants' Chamber is one of the oldest and most active Chambers of Commerce in the western region of India, promoting trade and industry and a harbinger of change and economic growth.

When the Indian Merchants' Chamber was established the country was in political ferment. The founders wanted to work towards liberating Indian industry, trade and commerce from foreign domination, and the Chamber was in the forefront of the Swadeshi Movement. In recognition of the Chamber's signal role Mahatma Gandhi had accepted the Honorary Membership of the Indian Merchants' Chamber, which is the only Chamber in the country to enjoy this privilege.

The Indian Merchants' Chamber has a membership of more than 2,50,000 members from large, medium and small-scale sectors, including manufacturing units, trading organizations, professionals etc. The Chamber represents a wide spectrum of industrial, servicing, and trading activities including banking, tourism, taxation, management consultancy, telecom, information technology, etc.

The Chamber is a non-profit organization and provides a platform for exchange of ideas between representatives of trade, business and industry, with the Government  and has played a pivotal role in shaping Government policies.

An IT savy Organization, this is the first Chamber of Commerce in India to receive ISO 9002 certification, which has now been upgraded to ISO 9001-2000.

Apart from its headquarters in Mumbai, the Chamber has Branch Office in Navi Mumbai, and a Regional Office in New Delhi. The Chamber has its own Economic Research and Training Foundation, which functions as the Think Tank for the holistic development of trade, business and commerce.

The Chamber has been very active in promoting India's business in international markets, and projecting India as the land of new business and investment opportunities. It has so far signed over 75 MOUs with leading overseas Chambers of Commerce and Industry from about 60 countries all over the world. Closely associated with the International Chamber of Commerce India and the International Fiscal Association, the Chamber also took initiative in organizing Overseas Indian Conferences 'India Calling' at Asia Pacific Business Summit in 2004 at Singapore, and India-Gulf Partnership Summit in 2005 at Dubai. Taking a step forward towards globalization, the Chamber has set up two offices abroad, one at Dubai and other at Singapore to represent India's interests abroad.

The Department of Posts is proud to issue a commemorative postage stamp to mark the centenary of the Indian Merchants' Chamber.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India