Basic Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics Export Promotion Council, popularly known as Chemexcil was established in 1963. Set up by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, it has its headquarters at Mumbai. The objective of Chemexcil is to make a concerted effort to promote exports of basic organic and inorganic chemicals, dyes, pesticides, soaps, detergents, cosmetics, toiletries and other products like agarbattis, essential, castor oil, etc. The wide ranging structural reforms related to globalisation has resulted in a change in the mindset of companies and has helped Chemexcil to play a committed, complementary and catalystic role in promoting the exports of chemical groups. This is evident from the rapid growth in the membership base of Chemexcil all over India as well as the strides made in the export of chemical groups in the last 42 years.

Organisational Structure
Chemexcil has four separate panels. Each panel is a specialised unit guiding the export interests of the items covered under its purview. These are as follows:

• Dyes and dye intermediates

• Basic inorganic and organic chemicals including agrochemicals

• Cosmetics, toiletries and essential oils

• Agarbattis

Chemexcil also promotes exports of castor oil and derivatives of castor oil. The activities of the Council are governed by the Committee of Administration, which is the supreme organ of the Council. Three-fourths of the Committee’s members are elected from among the industry, while the rest are nominated by the Government. In addition to this, each panel has its own committee, which looks after the specific interests of the panel. The Council also has some functional committees, which attend to some specialised aspects of the Council’s work, which includes projects, publicity and exhibitions, registration, export assistance, budget, etc.

Services
Through its extensive infrastructure, marketing and information facilities and regional offices in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata, Chemexcil oversees trade promotion, participation in overseas trade fairs and exhibitions, and encourages SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in export promotion efforts.The Council, through its various committees, sub-committees and panels, offers an ideal forum for exporters to come together to discuss common as well as conflicting interests and find solutions of mutual benefit, eliminating conflict if any.

Activities
In the last four years, Chemexcil has conducted reverse buyer-seller meets where prominent buyers from LAC (Latin American countries), Africa, CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), ASEAN and Gulf were invited, providing an opportunity for chemical manufacturers to meet their counterparts, and subsidising participation of small and micro cosmetic manufacturers in these shows. Chemexcil has organised a sector-specific mega Indian exhibition and conference of agrochemicals in Thailand in 2007 and in Malaysia in 2008 as well as the Gulf-Chemie Meet 2007 in Goa. It disseminates all trade enquiries generated at various fairs and exhibitions free of cost to member-exporters. It has sponsored trade delegations to various focus countries and participated in important international exhibitions such as CHEMSPEC, BCPC and the FCI trade summit. It also organised several educative seminars for the benefit of member exporters.