Dhaka Muslim Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Dhaka Muslim Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DMCCI) an ancestor of the present Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the other ancestor being the United Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI). These two Chambers were merged in 1959 to form the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI). The DMCCI was formed at about the last decade of the British rule in India while the UCCI immediately after the end of the colonial period. The birth of both these Chambers reflected the then socio-economic and business conditions of this region as well as the logical consequence of the establishment of other Chambers in all important port cities in India in the 19th century.

In the wake of inflow into the then East Bengal in the early thirties of non-Bengali and non-Muslim traders from various parts of India, the local Muslim traders and manufacturers formed the DMCCI in 1936 to protect their business interest and identity. The business personalities like Dr MA Khan, Alhaj Fazlur Rahman and Arifur Rahman provided leadership to form the chamber, which started functioning with its office at Islampur with a membership of only 25 Muslim businessmen.

The migrated non-Bengali business people were in many ways favoured by the then Government of Pakistan in business matters including license facilities for trading goods. The reaction of the local Muslim traders was very strong and they successfully lobbyed through the chamber to press their demand home for separate allotment of quota for distribution of varied consumer items. The Chamber was instrumental to obtain recognition of the local business people and their involvement in wider in business activities.

The partition of India in 1947 brought about a new business scenario in East Pakistan. These were large-scale migration of local non-Muslim business people to India and of Muslim business people from various parts of India to East Pakistan. The latter group formed a separate business platform as United Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The two Chambers began to operate in the same territorial jurisdiction of Dhaka. In this circumstance, the word 'Muslim' from the nomenclature of the DMCCI was dropped to accommodate various non-Muslim business people. Ultimately the two Chambers were merged in 1959 to form a united platform known as the Dhaka Muslim Chamber of Commerce and Industry. [Ashraf Uddin Chowdhury]