The is an industry association in India. CII works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the development of India, partnering industry, Government, and civil society, through advisory and consultative processes. CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed organization. Founded in 1895, it has over 9,000 members, from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and an indirect membership of over 300,000 enterprises from around 265 national and regional sectoral industry bodies. CII works with the Government on policy issues. CII has been a catalyst of change in India's economic policy reforms. CII played a very important role during economic liberalisation in 1991 which knocked down the high walls of protection between Indian industry and the rest of the world. With 65 offices, including 9 Centres of Excellence, in India, and 11 overseas offices in Australia, Bahrain, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States, as well as institutional partnerships with 355 counterpart organizations in 126 countries, CII serves as a reference point for Indian industry and the international business community.
CII has over 500 ‘Intellectual Groups’ — councils, committees, task forces and working groups among others — working at the national and regional levels, across industry sectors. These groups give shape to and articulate member concerns to government policy makers, regulators, think tanks etc. They work pro-actively with the government to formulate policies that would empower businesses.
International and Business Development
CII aims to sustain India's international worldwide and also perform towards building CII as the first port of call for foreign delegations that wish to enlist with India and for the national industry that wish to approach traditional and emerging markets overseas. CII International works under CII International Policy and Trade Council. The principal goal of the CII International Policy and Trade Council is to commence activities to relate Indian & global businesses. The council also work towards developing market approach for Indian exporters; identifying the requirements of the minor sectors to make them extra ambitious; promoting cooperation with counterpart systems; adopting an aggressive approach with foreign governments on various international affairs regarding the Indian economy; restoring the industry about the current Round of negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda of the World Trade Organization and the Free trade agreements that India has signed or is negotiating with various countries / regions. The CII International works at close proximity with the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Indian embassies / missions’ overseas for creating helpful policies and agendas for trade and investment. They also work closely with the foreign embassies / missions in India, international institutions / multilateral agencies, think tanks and the various universities. From 2013, CII has broadened its focus of work through more Regional and Country Committees like: Africa, ASEAN + ANZ, East Europe, GCC, LAC, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea and Sri Lanka. CII's International work is backed by seven overseas offices in Australia, China, Germany, France, Singapore, United States and UK that helps us propagate important information pertaining to markets and joint venture possibilities to both Indian and global companies. CII has direct membership of over 9000 organisations and indirect membership of over 300,000, from around 265 national and regional sectoral associations. The membership is open to any company or firm in India engaged in manufacturing activity or providing consultancy services. India Liaison Offices operating with the approval of Reserve Bank of India, without any Sales Turnover in India, are eligible for the "Associate Membership". There is no Individual membership in CII. Companies from the same group can take up membership separately, since there is no group membership.
CII as a part of its knowledge management initiatives has developed a Knowledge Portal 'myCII' which is an online knowledge resource centre of CII. This includes premium research reports, recordings of conference proceedings, thousands of sector specific presentations, online master class videos, Webinar recordings, Investment and Policy Trackers, B2B Opportunities and online database of member companies.
