What Is a Chamber of Commerce?

At its core, a chamber of commerce is some sort of network for businesses. It is also known as a board of trade or a network for businesses in the same industry. Several different businesses become members of this chamber. 

By electing different roles such as councils among the members, businesses start setting policies for their chamber. The staff, including a CEO, councils, directors, and a president usually run the organization. These chambers are usually associated with different firms in the industry, representing a business community. These chambers however are different in each country. For instance, the Indian chamber of commerce (ICC) is among the leading chambers and the only one with a headquarter in Kolkata. In this article, we want to take a look at what the ICC is, what it does and what an important role it plays. 

What is the Indian chamber of commerce and what does it do?

As we mentioned previously, the Indian chamber of commerce, or the ICC is one of the leading chambers with a headquarter in Kolkata. This chamber of commerce is fairly old, with a history of nearly 100 years. This prominent chamber consists of major business marketplaces in the country. The main factor that put this organization ahead of its competitors is its ability to find effective solutions for challenges and prepare the stakeholders for these encounters while making the most of them. Namely and pioneer industrialists and business specialists came together to set ICC up, becoming the first organization in the Indian industry to attempt this activity. This is the only one in India winning the Canadian world’s chamber competition. 

What does the ICC focus on and what does it cover?

The North-East countries are among the main areas this chamber is focused on. ICC made it clear for the nations that the countries such as Singapore and Vietnam with great economic powers and abilities make the best co-operating options and carry a lot of potential. Another great focus of the ICC is on India’s south relations. By increasing the focus on the southern nations, trade & investment enhanced for India with countries such as Singapore and Indonesia.  

Another focus of this organization is on economic research and policy issues. By undertaking particular surveys, preparing reports, providing policy inputs, and making budget recommendations, the ICC plays an important role in the marketplace and affects the governments directly. By addressing complications in the business industries, the ICC links the sectors and the government together, resulting in better problem-solving and consequentially, effective outcomes. 

The ICC: details you don’t want to miss

The ICC works as the backbone of business industries in Easter/North-Easter India. This organization, made by pioneers in the industry consists of big company names as members in India.  The Indian chamber of commerce hosted plenty of high-ranking officials such as Indian ministers, prime ministers, and presidents. The long history of this chamber with Indian markets and the important role it plays leads to huge Indian leaders working at the core of this organization. The ICC consists of big manufacturing units all over India and worldwide, and members of this organization include Banks, promotional organizations, financial institutions, and so on. This variety of members results in diversity and more expertise. The ICC's important industry associations are the Indian Chemical Merchants and Manufacturers Association, the Indian Foundry Association, the Indian Sugar Mills Association, and the West Bengal Cold Chain & Cold Storage Owners Welfare Association. Members of these organizations, such as pioneer industrialists make the main policies for their organization; meaning each activity of the chamber affects their very own businesses and markets as well. The most important factor of the ICC is how well it responds under pressure and how it reacts to the problems businesses face. 

Different operating areas of the ICC

The Indian chamber of commerce consists of different units, areas, and functions. These several focus separate areas from one another, making sure the concentration is equally divided into different sections. 

Policy Advocacy

This unit is the first and one of the most important functions of the ICC. Economic policymaking is one of the main factors of this organization, creating policies all to ease challenges and facing problems. 

ICC EXIM Initiations 

The ICC pioneered many activities such as:

• Hosting business meetings and representations
• Arranging corporations with other chambers of commerce in countries such as Israel, Japan, Singapore, the United States, etc. 
• Linking operations and forming business connections in the field of trade and investment
• Becoming a namely sponsor in international events
• Organizing educational programs regarding Exim
•  Creating and maintaining a complete database with full information regarding trades, services, exports, and imports 
• Other activities such as visa recommendations and leading business negotiations 

ICC forum for younger people

ICC created a forum for youngsters with aspirations and goals. This forum, called the Young Leaders Forum is a unit dedicated to younger members. These young achievers, pioneers, and even business professionals might belong to different fields of business, but they can all work together in a forum dedicated to them. Focusing on increasing their confidence and leadership, and enhancing skills such as teamwork is the main focus of this forum. Creating a reliable team, of professional individuals for the future is an important task for the ICC.

Global MSME forum

This forum consists of all the stakeholders including the state and central governments, representatives from different industries, banks, financial institutions, agents, etc. this forum aims to increase competition and create more drive in the industry. This forum’s activities include providing a suitable foundation or platform for the industry to address the issues in the first place, increase competitive behavior and energy, and whatnot. 

What services does the ICC offer?

 Now that we know about the different facilities, factors, and important points of the ICC, it is time to look into the services this organization provides. Here is a list of some of these services:

• Investment matchmaking
• Venue booking
• Visa recommendations
• Business survives
• Investment and trading services

The bottom line

A chamber of commerce is an organization, which aims to link business counterparts and address professional issues in the industry. The Indian chamber of commerce, also called the ICC aims to point these issues out and face them while preparing businesses to face them as well. The ICC consists of different units, each focusing on different factors, and backing namely Indian organizations as members. With over 80 years of providing business services to the Indian industries, the ICC is the backbone of the Indian market and business industry.