The Bengal Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1853, replacing the former Calcutta Chamber of Commerce, which was merged into the new organization. At the outset, it had eighty-six members in Calcutta and eighteen others. Its objects included[2] –
To establish just and equitable principles in trade;
To form a code or codes of practice to facilitate transaction of business;
To maintain uniformity in rules, regulations and usages of trade;
To communicate with Chambers of Commerce and other mercantile and public bodies throughout the world, and concert and promote measures for the protection of trade and traders.
On 30 November 1857, as a result of the
Indian Mutiny, the Chamber appealed to the Government of India to send "a force of Europeans, either sailors or soldiers" to defend
Akyab, as it considered the
Arracan Battalion not to give enough protection. It was concerned about "the safety of the inhabitants and the security of the public treasury". The Secretary to the Government replied on 2 December, regretting that "there is no European force available at present."[3]
In 1876, at a time when
silver was falling in value, chiefly due to the opening of new mines in the
United States, the Bengal Chamber of Commerce was so concerned that it proposed that the Government of India should suspend the coining of
silver. The Economist of 5 August 1876 reported that
The Chamber of Commerce of Bengal have resolved "that it is expedient for the government to suspend clause 19 of Act 23 of 1870, which makes it obligatory on the Indian Mint to receive all silver tendered for coinage... and that during such suspension it be unlawful to import coined
rupees.[4]
The Chamber and its business were greatly disrupted by the
partition of India and the
partition of Bengal in 1947, with
West Bengal becoming part of the new
Dominion of India and
East Bengal going to the
Dominion of Pakistan. Despite this, changes in the Chamber were later described as "slow and incremental". New businesses joined the Chamber, and its first Indian President of the new era was elected in 1958. It developed from a
gentlemen's club of able merchants whose chief concern was with trade into a modern organization with as much concern for industry as for trade. Whereas the officers and committee members had previously been the
owners of capital, they were now more likely to be professional
senior managers.[5]
In 2004,
O. P. Jindal (1930–2005) was awarded the Chamber's Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to the Indian Steel Industry.[8]
List of presidents
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru with then President of the chamber H.D. Cumberbatch in January 1948.