The Electrochemical Society of India, popularly referred to as ECSI was conceived and started by Professor T L Rama Char, who at that time was a Professor in the Inorganic and Physical Chemistry department of the Indian Institute of Science. Based on his contacts with the Electrochemical Society, USA, he started an India Section of the Electrochemical Society of USA in 1954 with himself as the Founder President and several of his own students as office bearers. Simultaneously, he started publishing a News Letter in the form of a Journal which contained articles on developments in Electroplating.

Several members felt that the progress in Electrochemistry in India was large enough to sustain an independent organization, a Scientific Society under the name of “Electrochemical Society of India” with the acronym ECSI was registered in the year 1964 and the News Letter was christened “Journal of the Electrochemical Society of India”.

In the initial years a number of research students, scientists and industrialists from the electroplating area became members and contributed to the growth of the Society. As more members joined, the general theme of the Society expanded to nearly all branches of Electrochemistry and the Society grew in stature and size rapidly. Many of Prof. Rama Char’s students who had found employment in the industry contributed in a large measure to this growth and were also growing themselves as well. The memorandum of Association and the Bye Laws of the Society were drawn up to reflect a purely democratic way of governance.

ECSI was led by eminent professionals in the field of electrochemical science and technology as Past Presidents which includes: Prof. T. L. Rama Char, Prof. S. Kappanna, Sri. J. Balachandra, Prof. K. I. Vasu, Dr. S. Krishnamurthy, Dr. R. P. Dambal, Mr. Kangovi, Dr. S. K. Sheshadri, Dr. Indira Rajagopal, Dr. S. R. Rajagopalan, Prof. S. M. Mayanna, Dr. Bala Gangadhar, Dr. H. B. Rudresh, Prof. E. S. Dwarakadasa, and Dr. U. Kamachi Mudali. The Society has grown in stature and size due to the tireless efforts of all the stalwarts steering the Society from time to time. There have been very able Secretaries who have managed the affairs of the Society to bring it to its present position of fame in the country. Currently the President of ECSI is Dr. S.T. Aruna, Senior Principal Scientist of CSIR-NAL, Bengaluru.

Publication of the News Letter of the Society was utilized by Book Publishers such as McGraw Hill, to ask the Editor to publish Book Reviews. Copies of books sent for reviews were collected together and a Library was started, which today has very valuable books in the area of Electrochemistry. There are about 3000 books. Members of the Society are eligible to borrow books. There is a plan presently to get all the books digitized and make them available for Members. This will become operational once the Copyright questions are answered.

As the Society grew, Membership was opened to anyone interested in the various areas of Electrochemistry. However, possessing a bachelor’s degree was required to become a member. Many industrial organizations evinced interest in joining and supporting the Society and a category of sustaining Membership was started.

Over the years of growth, a number of programmes of interest to the electrochemists and related fields have been made a common feature in the yearly activities of the Society. This includes the following: Prof. T. L. Rama Char Memorial Lecture, Prof. B S Seshadri Memorial Lecture, Dr. S. Krishnamurthy Memorial Lecture, Prof. S. Mayanna Endowment Lecture. Due to generous support the Society gives away the S. K. Sheshadri Memorial Mascot Award supported by the Mascot Group of Companies and the N. M. Sampath Award instituted by the Canning Mitra Phoenix group of Companies every year to persons who have contributed to the Industry and Society in the fields of Corrosion and Metal Finishing, respectively. In addition, recently two more awards were presented at NSEST 2021 namely, METROHM Electrochemist of the Year sponsored by the Metrohm India Ltd., Chennai for the best theoretical and experimental contributions in electrochemistry, and AMARA RAJA Advanced Electrochemical Technology Award for the best electrochemical technology contributions. In 2022, a new award Dr. K.E. Elayaperumal National Award is introduced for the outstanding contributions to electrochemical industries in different areas. Also, every year the best papers presented/published in the fields of Corrosion and Metal Finishing also receive the Best paper Awards.

A very significant feature of the activities of the Society is the publication of the Journal of the Electrochemical Society of India (JECSI). Presently it is running volume 60 meaning it has been published continuously for 60 years.

Sometime early in the nineties, the Governing Council decided to encourage Teachers and Students to interact with scientists. This was facilitated by providing a special platform for them in the Annual Conference of the Society usually held in the month of July every year titled National Seminar on Electrochemical Science and Technology, NSEST for short. Various Government departments such as DST, CSIR, BRNS, ISRO and many Industrial houses have supported this event very generously.

The Society awards Fellow and Honorary Fellowship and the Life Time Achievement Award to recognize distinguished Scientists and Technologists as well as Technocrats, in the field of Electrochemical Science and Technology.

ECSI has always paid attention to the concerns of Environment. A very useful and sought-after programme of the Society is the Water and Air Pollution awareness programmes run during the summer months. Recently, a new programme titled “Eco Friendly Metal Finishing Processes” has been added.

The Society welcomes the industry for support courses on any subject of interest in the areas of Electrochemistry. On several occasions, Members of ECSI have provided Consultancy services to the industry in the areas of Corrosion, Battery, Electroplating, Electroforming, Chemical Milling, Failure Analysis, Surface Finishing and Protection, and several other fields. Expertise exists among members of the Society to tackle such problems and ECSI provides the platform to offer these services.

ECSI has organized several international conferences. The series on Surface Finishing with; the acronym INCOSURF has been organized once in 4 years since 1986 and the recent one was done in 2018. In addition, ICONEST series (International Conference on Electrochemical Science and Technology) was started in 2014 and conducted again in 2017.

ECSI invites and welcomes students, Teachers, Scientists and Technologists and Industry professionals to come forward to become members of the Society and to extend support for its growth.