The Malaysian Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Penang had its origin in the early 1920's and perhaps is the earliest Indian Chamber founded in Malaysia.

During the turn of the 20th Century prominent members of the Indian mercantile community in Penang, comprising mainly of those from Western India, were very active in Exports & Imports of various commodities. They were, in fact, almost holding the monopoly for onions, pulses, spices, rice and textiles, imports and exports of betel nuts and local spices.

These merchants as individual traders were doing extremely well and realised the need to unite and form a grouping to represent their interests in matters of trade and commerce in the State.

From information gathered, these merchants, Mr. Purushottamdass Patel, Mr. Shivashaner Joshi and Mr. Himatlal Bhatt as partners of M/S. Purushottamdass & Co. of 68, King Street, and Mr. H. A. Tyebkhan of H. A. Tyebkhan & Co. often met when not commuting to Bombay.

These traders eventually formalised the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Penang sometime in the early 1920's (circa 1924) and continued to function until the outbreak o the Second World War.

It is unfortunate that the pre-war records which were kept in the office of M/S. H. A. Tyebkhan were destroyed during the Japanese Occupation when there was a short period of inactiveness.

Mr. H. E. Tyebkhan, Mr. P. V. Parekh and Mr. Ratilal Narechanial were the initiators to form the post war Chamber aided by two prominent lawyers Sir H. H. Abdoolcader and Mr. N. Raghavan who jointly drafted out the constitution.

Soon after the Second World War efforts were made by about 18 prominent members of the Indian mercantile community, among who were Mr. H. E. Tyebkhan, PKT, J.P., Mr. P. V. Parekh, Mr. Ambalal Patel & Mr. N. T. Assomull who strived to reconstitute the Chamber. As a result Mr. H. E. Tyebkhan, PKT, J.P. was elected the 1st President of the post war Indian Chamber of Commerce, Penang.

During this period of reconstruction the Chamber played a vwery important role inhelping its members to get supplies of provisions and textiles, all of which were disrupted during the Japanese Occupation.

From 1946 until the mid 1960's, most of the members were very active in the entrepot trade especially with Indonesia. In fact, a major portion of Penang's entrepot trade with neighbouring countries was then handled by our members. However, due to political reasons as also loss of free port status of Penang, trade diminished and many of the members were compelled to diversify into other fields such as retail, service, local distribution, etc. with some venturing into the manufacturing industry.

On the national level, the Penang Indian Chamber took part in the inaugural meeting in September 1950 to establish the Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce of Malaysia (AICCI) led by Mr. S.O.K. Ubaidullah. The AICCI was then the apex body of the various state level Chambers of Commerce.

The Chamber celebrated the joy of the country's independence (Merdeka) on 31st August 1957 participating in the events with pomp and gaiety along with the country with a dinner in which the then Governor of Penang, His Excellency Raja Tun Uda Al-haj bin Raja Muhammad, SMN and his consort, Y.T.M. Tengku Puan Nor Sa'adah were the guests of honour.

In 1962, the Chamber bought a piece of land in Penang Street and a 4 storey building was constructed by 1963 with a bank loan. Mr. A. Rajagopal PJK, Mr. H. E. Tyebkhan J.P., Mr. K.P.M. Abdul Majeed J.P., Mr Doraisamy Thevar J.P., Mr. K. K. Sharma, Mr. N.T.S. Arumugam Pillai AMN., Mr. Makhanlal Mahawar, Mr. M. M. Amin and Mr. J. N. Patel put in special efforts in raising funds for the Building Project. The Opening Ceremony of the Chamber Building was done by His Excellency Raja Tun Uda Al-haj bin Raja Muhammad SMN, on 13 January 1964.