Export Promotion Councils are non-profit sector organisations recognised by India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry to develop and promote the country's exports, each covering a product group Commerce.gov.in. They run trade fairs and buyer delegations, advise government on sector policy, and, most practically for an individual exporter, issue the Registration-cum-Membership Certificate.
Why exporters actually join: the RCMC
An RCMC from the relevant council (or commodity board) is what plugs an exporter into the Foreign Trade Policy's benefit machinery; registration is filed through DGFT's e-RCMC system DGFT. Without it, scheme benefits and many procedural doors stay shut. Which council you join follows your product line; multi-product exporters can register with a council for their principal line of business.
The major councils, by sector
The Department of Commerce maintains the authoritative list of recognised councils and boards Commerce.gov.in; the widely known names include:
- EEPC India: engineering goods
- AEPC: apparel
- GJEPC: gems and jewellery
- Pharmexcil: pharmaceuticals
- CHEMEXCIL: basic chemicals and cosmetics
- PLEXCONCIL: plastics
- EPCH: handicrafts
- TEXPROCIL: cotton textiles
- CLE: leather
- SEPC: services exports
- FIEO: the apex federation across sectors
Sector counts and recognitions change with policy, so treat the ministry's own page as the register of record rather than any fixed number quoted elsewhere Commerce.gov.in.
Yes, the acronym again
An Indian exporter, a Leeds landlord and a warehouse RFID engineer can all reasonably search "what is EPC" and none of them is wrong. The other five meanings are indexed at meanings; the certificate that dominates the search results starts at the Energy Performance Certificate.